Umiami Scientifica Volume I Issue 2

April 2015

Volume I, Issue II

The ni ersity o ia i s IRST ndergraduate Scientific aga ine

ASCE’s Newest Acquisition: ASCE’s Newest Acquisition: UM Engineers Compete in National Opening of New Nanotechnology Facility at Miller...10 Math in Nature...12 Robotic Medical Check-Ups...14 Peptides & Their Specificity with Inorganic Nanoparticles...18 Student Research Profiles...22 Physician Assisted Suicide...26 Farmer’s Market...32 Stress Psychology...40

UM Engineers Compete in National Qualifying Competition Qualifying Competition

New Nanotechnology Facility..10 Facility at Miller...10 Opening of New Nanotechnology Math in Nature...12 Math in Nature...12 Robotic RoboticMedical MedicalCheck-Ups...14 Check-Ups...14 Protein Specificity...18 Peptides & Their Specificity with Inorganic Nanoparticles...18 Student StudentResearch ResearchProfiles...22 Profiles...22 Physician Assisted Suicide...26 Physician Assisted Suicide...26 Farmer’s Farmer’sMarket...32 Market...32 Stress Psychology...40 Stress Psychology...40

Table of Contents News ASCE’s Newest Acquisition, 6 Retinal Detachment, 8 New Nanotechnology Facility at Miller,10

Science Through Photography Math in Nature, 12

Innovations in Science Robotic Medical Check-Ups, 16 The Importance of Knowing How To Work In A Team, 17 Is Electronic Aspirin The Aspirin of the Future?, 18

Journals

The University of Miami’s FIRST Undergraduate Scientific Magazine

Staff Roger Williams, M.S. Ed., Editorial Advisor Victoria A. Pinilla Escobar, Editor-in-Chief Jennifer V. Chavez, Managing Editor Michaela E. Larson, Design Director Henry Mancao, Copy Chief Andrew Rubio, Copy Assistant Natalia Beadle, Photo Editor Riva Trivedi, Business Manager Pierrah Hilaire, Marketing Director Priya Patel, Distribution Manager Sarah Poliquin, Editor, Articles Lauren Shahin, Editor, Articles Valentina Suarez, Writer, Articles Zil Patel, Editor, Innovations in Science David Lin, Writer, Innovations in Science

Peptides and their Specificity with Inorganic Nanoparticles, 19 Which Came First, the Chicken or the Zebrafish?, 20 The Exploration of Different Models in School-based Treatment for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, 21 Microfiltration & It’s Uses in Detecting Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC), 22

Student Research Student Profile: Lena Chehebbadine Student Profile: Eduardo Lamas Student Profile: Daniel Amat Student Profile: Areeba Imam

Ethics in Science Physician Assisted Suicide, 28 To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate: Is That Even a Question?, 30 No Patient Left Behind, 31

Health Science Farmer’s Market, 32 Fat -vs- Sugar, 34 The Importance of Nutrition, 36 Is There an Optimal Range Rep for Muscle Growth?, 38

Freshman Advice Stress Psychology, 40 Master Plan: Pre-Med, 42

Brandon DeSousa, Editor, News Rick Lin, Writer, News Catherine Mulloor, Writer, News Sara Friedfertig, Editor, Capturing Science Through Photography Madiha Ahmed, Editor, Ethics in Science Gabrielle Eisenberg, Writer, Ethics in Science Barbara Puodzius, Writer, Ethics in Science Rohan Badlani, Editor, Journals Anum Hoodbhoy, Writer, Journals Renuka Ramchandran, Editor, Health Science Faizah Shareef, Writer, Health Science Anthony Pumilla, Writer, Health Science Joseph Bonner, Writer, Health Science Kriti Sood, Editor, Freshman Advice Michelle Xiong, Writer, Freshman Advice Peyton Brown, Writer, Research Mirza Baig, Writer, Research Connor Verheyen, Graphic Design Savannah Geary, Graphic Design Manuel Pozas, Graphic Design Rhiya Mittal, Graphic Design Christine deSilva, Graphic Design Sarah Hirth, Graphic Design Yiran Zhu, Infographics Jiachuan Wu, Infographics

Board of Faculty Advisors 2014-2015 Richard J. Cote, M.D., FRCPath, FCAP

Thomas Goodmann, Ph.D.

Professor and Joseph R. Coutler Jr. Chair, Department of Pathology Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Chief of Pathology, Jackson Memorial Hospital Director, Dr. ohn T. Macdonald Foundation iomedical anotechnology Institute University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Associate Professor-English College of Arts & Sciences

Mathias G. Lichtenheld, M.D. Associate Professor of Microbiology & Immunology FBS 3 Coordinator University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Eckhard R. Podack, M.D., Ph.D. Sylvester Distinguished Professor of Medicine Chairman, Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Geoffrey Stone, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology Group Leader, HIV Immunotherapy Program Dodson Immunotherapy Institute Miami Center for AIDS Research Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Onur Tigli, Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. John T. Macdonald Biomedical anotechnology Institute io ium Department of Pathology Miller School of Medicine University of Miami

Barbara Colonna, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer, Organic Chemistry

Charles Mallery, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Biology and Cellular and Molecular Biology Associate Dean

Leticia Oropesa, D.A. Coordinator Department of Mathematics Professor of Mathematics

Geoff Sutcliffe, Ph.D. Chair Department of Computer Science Associate Professor of Computer Science

Yunqiu (Daniel) Wang, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer Department of Biology

Meryl Blau, M.A. Lecturer Por olio Development/AAF Competition

Sarai Nunez, M.A. Lecturer Graphic Design

Randy Stano, M.A. Professor of Professional Practice in ournalism Adviser to the I IS Yearbook and Distraction Magazine School of Communication

Letters to the Reader

Reader Comments We welcome any and all reader suggestion and comments. Here are a few recieved from last issue’s Roger on the Edge:

Leaving a legacy at your alma mater is a daunting, yet rewarding task.

Through hours of researching, writing, interviewing and designing, the Scientifica team has successfully established the FIRST undergraduate scientific magazine here at the University of Miami — all in a matter of a few months. We have changed the student media presence on our campus and have given students in the STEM community a unique voice.

I would like to thank our readers for supporting our recent referendum campaign by voting “YES” to allow Scientifica to become a permanent part of our university. I am privileged to witness my peers enriching our campus culture with relevant discussion and outspoken advocacy. I am proud to share with you our second issue and I hope that, as you read this magazine, your own curiosity is sparked and you begin to think about what makes YOU passionate. Dare to think differently, and find your own voice. Enjoy!

Victoria Pnilla-Escobar Editor-in-Chief UMiami Scientifica

Would YOU like to be featured in our magazine?

Tell us your thoughts: www.facebook.com/umiamiscientifica

www.instagram.com/umiamiscientifica/

As Editorial Advisor for UMiami Scientifica, I have had the honor of witnessing the magazine’s growth on the Coral Gables campus these past few months. All of its successes can be attributed to the effective leadership of our core staff as well as the many dedicated writers, photographers and designers. The most important part of UMiami Scientifica is our reader base that craves the sciences and/or are curious about the many fields and how each relates to their lives. We thank each and every one of you and hope that, with each issue, we continue to evolve and engage your curiosities, interests and, most of all, your love of the sciences. Please enjoy this issue knowing that it is you, the students, who have made UMiami Scientifica the success that it is. I am very proud of each of you, as are all of your faculty advisors.

Roger Williams M.S. Ed Director, Student Activities/Advisor Microbiology & Immunology Undergraduate Department

The Canoe That Won’t Sink To the layman, a concrete canoe has one end: to sink. To the inspired mind, however, that same concrete construction comes as a challenge — such is the case for a collection of students hailing from colleges across the U.S. to compete in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) National Concrete Canoe Competition. At this competition, knowledge and practicality combine through the construction of a concrete canoe that is — hopefully! — capable of surviving even the most grueling obstacles and ultimately winning the competition. The main concern when designing the canoe is to ensure that it is as lightweight as possible, yet sturdy enough to support the weight of the passengers for each race. There are several races comprising the competition: two female, two male, four coed and one full-team race. To qualify, teams must compete in their respective ASCE Student Conference. The conference for the southeast division (to which UM belongs) will be held at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga on March 19-21. The ASCE judges publish specific and strict rules to which teams must adhere — such as material restrictions and dimension minimums — which only introduces more hurdles for the team to overcome. If these rules are not observed by any individual team, its canoe runs the risk of being disqualified.

The team representing the University of Miami has been working on the blueprints for the canoe since the summer of 2014 and has slowly but surely seen their design come to life. The model was first drafted using AutoCAD, an engineering software application in which users can shape their 2-D and 3-D designs

- Brandon Desousa & Jennifer Chavez into formal blueprints. The engineers decided to construct their canoe with lightweight concrete reinforced with a carbon fiber mesh. The concrete contains slag and fly ash, both of which are environmentally friendly substitutes to cement. The canoe’s lightweight build allows the team to move the canoe without the use of a crane. Concrete naturally performs very poorly under tension; by employing a carbon mesh reinforcement, they were able to combine the compressive strength of the concrete and the tensile strength of the mesh into one system. After the design was approved and reviewed by the team, the hunt for materials began.

Rather, the hunt for sponsors began, as all of the engineers’ materials had to be supplied via donations. Luckily, they had several sponsors, namely Supermix and Titan — responsible for donating most of the materials for the concrete mix — as well as the University of Miami Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, which donated the mesh that would serve as a reinforcement for the canoe.

During winter break, the team built the wooden mold.

This female mold — meaning an indented mold, as opposed to a protruding one — was lined with a metal flashing to form the curvature needed for the design of the canoe. After a second collection of materials, and with the mold finally built, the team was ready to pour out the concrete for the base of the canoe. It took a total of six batches of concrete mix to create their threelayered design. These layers were constructed accordingly in order to provide proper support. They were constantly checked

for consistency: A layer that was too thin was sure to crack, while a layer that was too thick would yield a sunken canoe. To accomplish this, the team used a marked toothpick to indicate each layer of thickness throughout the canoe.

Team co-captains Hector Castaneda, senior, and Michael Herrera, junior, are both in the architectural engineering program.

They both competed in the 2014 ASCE Southeast Student Conference, helping the team race into 9th place out of 25 teams that competed in the southeastern region of the country. When asked about his experience, Michael expressed that the race against time was definitely the hardest part of building the canoe: “Honestly, the hardest thing about this canoe isn’t building, it is the amount of time that it takes to do everything. Between the design, construction of the mold, getting materials and writing the paper, as well as getting support from faculty and staff, it can be really time consuming.” Time was definitely a factor in building the canoe — not just because material application is time-sensitive, but also because juggling a full engineering course load along with a social life does not leave much time to volunteer to canoe-building. “The hardest part for me was definitely getting people to help,” Hector said. “It’s difficult to get students to come in on a Saturday to work on a canoe for a competition. Schools like ones in Puerto Rico have a class that is dedicated to building concrete canoes. So, they have no problem showing up because they are rewarded with a grade. We found it difficult to get fellow engineers and even people from our club to be interested and motivated to help out. But those that did are doing it because they are passionate in engineering, and those are the people we want on our team. Both Michael and I decided to participate in this competition because we were passionate about engineering, and it is an opportunity to apply what we’re learning in class to a canoe we build all on our own, with little to no help from faculty.”

The team is currently in the curing phase of construction, which is the process in which the concrete is protected from loss of moisture and kept within a reasonable temperature range. Curing is an essential part of construction because it helps increase the strength of the structure while decreasing the likelihood of permeability, ultimately increasing the durability of the canoe. When fully cured, the canoe is at its strongest; this point is usually reached 28 days after being mixed. After the canoe is completely cured, the team will demold the canoe (hoping that it will not crack), sand it and paint it. In addition to the canoe itself, the team must also submit a visual display and paper in order to justify the design and explain all of the materials used.

On March 19, UM’s ASCE team will be traveling to Tennessee to test out their design and compete against the 25 other southeastern division teams. On behalf of all of us here at Scientifica, we wish them the best of luck and plenty of smooth sailing ahead.

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Left: Blueprints of 3 layer designed canoe created on AutoCad

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VISION: POTENTIAL R E T I N A L R

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-Yeh Shiuan (Rick) -Lin

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very time I pick up my cell phone or try to read something with the light off, I can almost hear my mom’s voice ringing through my head: “Don’t read in the dark!” “Don’t stare at your computer screen for too long, you’ll go blind!” In this day and age, ophthalmologists are echoing the same sentiments as they are presented with more and more cases of vision damage. The culprit? Our dependence on technology. Leaving the house without a cellphone, computer or tablet is practically blasphemy. Often, however, we fail to realize the true damage we cause ourselves by constantly staring at our electronic devices. Jeff Todd, chief operating officer of Prevent Blindness America, reported to WebMD that there has been an 89 percent increase in diabetic retinopathy rates and a 25 percent increase in macular degeneration rates over the last 12 years.

Another 12-year study, published in 2009, reported that there has been a 17 percent increase in myopia (nearsightedness) diagnoses.

According to a 2013 survey by Everyday Health, nearly 70 percent of US adults suffer from visual strain as a result of their increasing use of technology. Although many doctors warn their patients against prolonged use of electronic devices, the number of people with deteriorating eyesight still continues to increase. What are doctors to do when the very technology on which society is so reliant is actually a major cause of vision loss in its population? To answer a question with another question: What if one cell could instantly regenerate those losses? Researchers at the Schepens Eye Institute of the Harvard Medical School are investigating just that.

The eye is one of the most complex organs of the human body. Despite its very small size, it contains over 200 million moving parts. Of those 200 million parts, there are about 20 parts of the eye that are most vulnerable to disease: the retina, the macula, the lens and the optic nerve, to name a few. The leading causes of blindness and impaired vision are macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma. However, the diseases that currently affect young people the most are those associated with visual strain, such as macular degeneration.

The retina is a thin, light-sensitive piece of tissue in the back of the eye that plays a vital role in vision. Its main function is to receive the image of the outside world as seen through the cornea and lens. The central part of the retina is the macula; this is where the majority of images are projected, while the rest are projected onto the peripheral areas of the retina. The images are projected onto the retina and converted into electrical signals to be interpreted by the brain. Common diseases of the retina include retinal tears and retinal detachments — the latter being more severe because detachments, if left completely untreated, can lead to blindness. Since retinal tears and detachments are usually painless, they are difficult to detect. Common symptoms include floating specks and flashes in the field of vision. Retinal detachment occurs when the retina is pulled from its normal position. As a result, the retina is removed from its blood supply, effectively starving to death (ischemia). If treated promptly, the retina can be reattached via laser surgery or cryopexy. Laser surgery welds the retina back into place by means of precise, controlled burns (cauterization).

Cryopexy reattaches the retina by freezing the area around the hole left by the retina, inducing scar tissue formation between the retina and its neighboring tissues. These procedures successfully treat over

90 percent of patients with retinal detachment. However, if the retina fully detaches, macula and all, the patient may suffer permanent vision loss. I know this will probably not deter you from answering your next text message or scrolling through Yik Yak; fortunately, a researcher at Harvard has made an interesting pilot discovery in the field of retinal detachment and macular degeneration.

Dr. Dong Feng Chen’s lab at the Harvard’s Schepens Eye Research Institute recently published a paper in The Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science journal discussing the transformation of non-neuronal cells to stem-like cells. This discovery gives hope to patients who suffer from retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa — even to patients who suffer permanent vision loss as a result of retinal detachment. Chen’s team chose to investigate Muller cells, which are the primary glial cells of the retina. Muller cells are multi-talented — they are able to recognize a variety of responses, transmit information from the retina to other parts of the eye, regulate neuronal activity of substances around the eye, and, like stem cells, produce undifferentiated cells within the eye.

This gave the team the hope that this “super cell” — the Muller cell — will allow them to aid or even regenerate the tissue lost in retinal degeneration and detachments.

Chen’s team worked with glutamate and aminoadipate, both of which bind to the Muller cells. Both of these chemicals were injected subretinally into the mice. Since Muller cells differentiate into multiple cells, the team used fluorescent markers to track these cells in order to determine their fate after being injected with either glutamate or aminoadipate.

Previous research showed that high concentrations of glutamate induce cell death, but this study hoped to find a possible benefit of injecting either glutamate or aminoadipate into the mice, theorizing that the influx of these molecules could shock the cell into cell cycle reentry.

The results of the study showed that, even though glutamate normally induces cell death, the injected glutamate stimulates Muller cells to reenter the cell cycle, allowing it to redifferentiate.

Furthermore, the aminoadipate showed that the stimulated Muller cells migrated from the outer nuclear layer and differentiated into photoreceptor cells. This was the ultimate goal of Chen’s study.

This discovery shows that the photoreceptors lost during retinal degeneration could be replenished by Muller cells. The most important takeaway of this study is that Muller cells can be induced to differentiate, migrate and become new retinal neurons, creating photoreceptors when stimulated by glutamate or aminoadipate.

With the breakthrough discovery of Muller cells, scientists can look towards applications in a clinical setting. Chen believes that if this is successful, a drug created from aminoadipate will have profound implications for patients with damaged retinas. This would be a scientific breakthrough free of physical intervention. This is extremely relevant to college students because many use laptops without taking breaks. As demonstrated by Shaban’s study, light emitted by modern technology degenerates the retina — over time, the damage from this prolonged exposure can accumulate to disastrous effect. Without a doubt, parents have a legitimate reason to scold their children for their heavy use of phones, tablets, laptops and all.

Nanotechnology at UM:

The Grand Opening of the First Nanofabrication Facility in South Florida - Rohan Badlani

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hen University of Miami President Donna Shalala first interviewed for her position, she felt prepared for any questions coming her way from any of her interviewers.

However, it was a student who posed to her one of the most difficult questions she had ever received. “He asked me, ‘Are you going to provide leadership in nanotechnology?’” recalled Shalala. After years of leading our institution, she can now proudly say yes.

On Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2014, the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute at the University of Miami (BioNIUM) celebrated the grand opening of one of the first nanofabrication facilities in Florida. This cutting-edge “clean room” was established with the help of a $7.5 million donation from the foundation and is located at the Life Science and Technology Park at the Miller School of Medicine. The 2800 square-foot clean room facility keeps the air from excess particles by featuring both a Class 1000 and a Class 100 room, which allow no more than 1000 and 100 particles per cubic foot of air, respectively. This concentration of particles is kept constant by panels of filters that line the ceiling and remove excess particles to ensure that the facility lives up to its name. This level of sterility is necessary in order to build devices at the nanometer scale, which is less than one-millionth of a millimeter in size.

Dr. Richard Cote, Joseph R. Coulter Jr. Endowed

Chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of Miami, as well as renowned professor, pathologist and expert in nanotechnology, was the main speaker at the opening.

He possessed the vision and drive (with the added effort of

News the University as a whole) to conceptualize and realize such an amazing feat of interdisciplinary studies. Also present at the opening was a large party of excited faculty and graduate students who had the pleasure of listening to engaging speeches by Dean James Tien of the College of Engineering, Dean Leonidas Bachas of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dean Pascal Goldschmidt of the Miller School of Medicine and President Donna Shalala.

After the grand opening, faculty led an exclusive tour through the facility; luckily, Scientifica was given the privilege to both attend the tour and take photos to provide for our readers. Once everyone suited up in full-body gear to prevent contamination, Dr. Onur Tigli and Dr. Sung Jin Kim, both of the College of Engineering, led tours of both the Class 100 and Class 1000 rooms of the facility.

The Nanofabrication Facility at BioNIUM will become an essential resource to scientists in making strides in the emerging area of biomedical nanotechnology, in which scientists use nanodevices to diagnose and treat severe illnesses. Researchers can utilize this clean room to perform nanoscale procedures with the utmost precision, from depositing metal films as thin as a few hundred angstroms across to creating micron-scale device patterns on silicon wafers.

The opening of this state-of-the-art facility is crucial to a number of different operations, such as building nanodevices; one of its many applications involves the development of a filter to capture circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood — key indicators of cancer.

Nanotechnology can also be used to release hormones such as insulin when needed in order to maintain bodily function. Organs-on-chips developed by engineers enable drug developers to use human-relevant models economic in use of both time and money compared to cell cultures and experiments using animals. In the field of engineering, there are efforts underway to regenerate tissue and, through the use of nanolayers, prevent rejection of transplanted tissues in the body. These nanolayers also help to protect food supplies from

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pathogens. Nanosensors developed at the facility will be able to rapidly diagnose diseases in even the smallest samples of blood. Other nanosensors are being used to indicate markers of fatigue in vehicle drivers via breath analysis.

The Nanofabrication Facility at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine is a rare gem that will act as a conduit through which scientists’ ideas can become reality. The excitement of all of those involved — along with many others present at the event — makes it apparent that the university as a whole is committed to storming into the world of nanotechnology to foster innovations that will ultimately save lives.

Polar Roses and Snakes on Cartesian Planes The Mathematical Essence of Nature

- Sara Friedfertig

Nature is scribed in the language of Mathematics: the science of numbers, quantitative information and space.

Many of the hypnotizing shapes and aesthetically-pleasing patterns and instances of symmetry we encounter in the natural world are but mere overlays of some of man’s most well-known graphs atop nature’s favorite colors. The greatest part of this, though, is the functionality behind the form: These mathematical correspondences we find in the frailest flowers and the burliest trees exist not to impress onlookers but rather to yield maximum efficiency.

When speaking of math in nature, everything seems to turn to gold: the golden ratio (or the golden mean), the golden rectangle, the golden triangle, the golden angle and the golden spiral, to name a few. All of these terms are associated with the omnipresent Fibonacci sequence,

beginning with two consecutive 1s and continued by summing the previous two numbers together to produce the next number: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc.

The golden ratio, calculated to be approximately 1.618, can be derived in a few ways — namely from an infinite series of fractions or square roots (see table?). There also exists a more geometrical manner of understanding the golden ratio: A given line segment of arbitrary length can be divided into two segments — a larger segment, A, and a smaller segment, B — such that the original line segment’s length is to the length of A as the length of A is to B (i.e., the ratio of lengths of the whole segment to A is proportional to that of A to B). This is precisely the manner in which the golden rectangle is constructed, and from that, the golden spiral.

A similar geometric setup is used to calculate the golden angle: The circumference of one circle can be sectioned into two arcs such that the proportion between the smaller and larger arcs is equal to that between the larger arc and the entire circumference. The angle subtended by the smaller arc measures approximately 137.5 degrees — the golden angle.

The correlation between these golden geometries and the Fibonacci sequence is quite a beautiful phenomenon: The ratios of consecutive Fibonacci numbers match up rather precisely with the approximation of the golden ratio after each iteration of its fractional derivation. These numbers and proportions are “golden” and “divine” because they are innate archetypes found around every corner of the natural world that allow nature to function with the utmost productivity.

One of the most charming examples of these golden mathematical overtones found in nature can be observed in the common sunflower. Its mesmerizing center — called

Capturing Science Through Photography

the flower head or, more scientifically, pseudanthium — is dotted with disk florets that eventually mature into sunflower seeds, the “fruit” of the sunflower. These disk florets are arranged in a tight network of spirals — the quintessence of the golden angle. The florets are oriented at about 137.5 degrees from one another and the rotation, or turn ratio, is undeniably close to phi, the golden ratio. Here’s yet another gold medal on the sunflower: The number of leftward and rightward spirals are generally consecutive Fibonacci numbers, say 34 in one direction and 55 in the other. Some of the larger sunflowers sport 89 and 144 spirals of disk florets, respectively. The question remains: How, exactly, is this efficient? This neatly-packed alignment is the only way to arrange the disk flowers atop the flower head without leaving spaces between florets. Changing the angle by less than a degree either way would leave noticeable gaps, thus causing space to be wasted. The more disk florets on the sunflower, the more seeds the flower can produce and spread for floral reproduction. Beautifully efficient — that’s nature for you.

If you thought that was it, you were wholly mistaken. We haven’t even touched upon stems yet. Spirals — such as the golden spiral mentioned earlier — play a major role in phyllotaxis, the arrangement of leaves on plant stems.

While the list of arrangement classifications covers a wide range of patterns, Fibonacci numbers still find their way into the mix. The fractions that describe the angle of windings of repeating spirals of leaves often involve consecutive Fibonacci numbers as numerators and denominators: 1/3 angle for beech and hazel, 2/3 for oak and apricot, 3/8 for sunflower and pear, 5/13 for willow and almond, etc. Such Fibonacci arrangements allow for optimal access to sunlight, dew moisture and rainwater for each individual leaf.

There are a slew of other mathematical concepts and elements that appear in nature, such as trigonometric waves — as the title of this article suggests — as well as other geometrical shapes and symmetries. Many flowers, for example, produce predictable numbers and formations of petals that follow numerical sequences (such as the Fibonacci sequence mentioned earlier) and the graphs of sine and cosine functions, respectively. The visual that first comes to

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mind of sinusoidal graphs is one of ever-oscillating waves that roll over and sweep under the x-axis of the Cartesian (rectangular) coordinate system, apparent in the lateral undulatory movement of snakes as they slither about the ground. Lateral undulation is the most common mode of locomotion for many fish, reptiles and amphibians, useful both terrestrially and aquatically. The snake’s body flexes left and right, and these flexed areas propagate in waves resembling sinusoids that push posteriorly against various contact points along the surface, causing a reactionary force that thrusts the snake into an overall forward motion.

Undulatory locomotion — motion distinguished by wavelike movements — is one of the most effective types of motion as it allows for the movement of limbless creatures.

However, take those familiar waves and transpose them into the polar coordinate system — in which points are defined not by perpendicular distances but rather by a radial distance and an accompanying angle — and they transform into gorgeous petal-like graphs reminiscent of some of nature’s beloved flowers. These mathematical roses, also known as rhodonea curves, have a specific number of petals based on the coefficient of the angle in their equations. Odd-numbered coefficients yield a petal count equal to that coefficient, while even-numbered coefficients yield a petal count double the coefficient. Actinomorphic flowers display a radial symmetry about their centers similar to that of polar roses about the coordinate system’s origin. There has been a shift from radial to bilateral symmetry (as in zygomorphic flowers) in the continually-changing evolutionary progression. This kind of symmetry can be analogized as symmetry about one of the axes of a rectangular coordinate system, much like in mirror images. Regardless, floral symmetry in general is essential for attracting insects and instigating pollination.

These few instances hardly scratch the surface of mathematical appearances in nature. The hypnotizing phenomenon of fractals — intricate patterns that remain mathematically similar at different scales — are found in all kinds of places, from snowflakes and frozen tree branches to river deltas and clouds — even in the Romanesco broccoli sitting on the kitchen counter. Simpler patterns are so common in nature that it’s easy to overlook them. Take honeycombs, for example: The waxen honeycombs of beehives are always equilateral hexagons so as to result in the most compact fit and economic use of both wax and labor.

Even the bees follow the proven truths of mathematics! Math is everywhere, an inherent dialect that the entire universe — as chaotically beautiful as it may appear — seems to speak and that we, as humans, are just beginning to learn.

The Emergence of Robotic Medical Check-Ups - David Lin

Have you ever lain in a hospital bed while the physician was on a screen talking to you? For most patients, the answer is no. Most of the time, physicians only visit their patients when scheduled. However, with revolutionary technology, robotic medical systems are able to perform routine checks on patients as well as organize the patient’s charts and medical history — all without physical intervention.

In today’s society, there is an increasing shortage of doctors and nurses as well as increasing costs for healthcare.

This is exactly why several hospitals and healthcare systems are investing their money in robotic systems for medical check-ups, surgery and other procedures. One series of such medical robots is the collection of Remote Presence robots created by InTouch Health, a company that works on providing acute care telemedicine solutions. This series consists of five Remote Presence (RP) robots (RP-VITA, RP-7i, RP-Lite, RP-Vantage, and RP-Xpress) that allow physicians to “easily perform real-time consults with patients and other physicians and healthcare providers using secure CS interfaces supported by an industry leading, cloud-based SureCONNECT network infrastructure,” according to the InTouch Health website. One of the robots in the series, RP-VITA, is used in Mercy San Juan Medical Center’s neurointensive care unit. This robot has the ability to drive itself around the halls of the hospital and can be controlled by a laptop, desktop computer or even an iPad. Dr. Alan Shatzel, a neurologist at the Mercy Neurological Institute, mentioned that, without these robots, off-site physicians are unable to see their patients; this hinders the physicians’ ability to make important decisions for their patients in times of immediate need. Not only do they respond to situations in timely fashion, but these robots also provide the medical expertise normally lacking in the physician’s absence. Even if the patient and physician are oceans apart, they can remain connected through robotic technology supported by cloud-based software. This technology is also extremely useful for rural, small-town hospitals and clinics. It can be lifesaving for patients who may have just suffered from a stroke or heart attack and are in need of immediate diagnosis. Every year, thousands of individuals die in the intensive care unit due to misdiagnosis.

If doctors are able to evaluate patients remotely, it can eliminate the need to transport patients to a larger hospital in the city. “This has proven to be tremendously valuable,” Shatzel said. Shatzel did mention that the robots should only be used as a tool and cannot replace the doctors — it is essential that physicians still visit their patients. These robots are meant to make it more convenient for physicians to check in with their patients more often and for patients to gain

access to physicians who are not present in the hospital. It usually takes under six minutes for the medical staff to page a doctor, get him or her connected to the Remote Presence robot, and make it available to the patient in need.

Another example of robots in healthcare today is the da Vinci surgical robot. The robot consists of four robotic arms, a high definition 3-D viewing system (with up to 10x magnification) and “EndoWrist” technology. This technology allows for a larger range of motion while reducing the risk posed by a surgeon’s natural hand tremors. The surgeon sits at the control console located near the patient, usually inside the operating room. He or she uses hand controls to manipulate the instruments and manipulate the da Vinci surgical robot. The robot facilitates complex surgeries by using a minimally invasive approach; it is most commonly used to perform prostatectomies, the removal of the prostate gland.

Many critics of this medical technology propose that the cost of the system is too high and not worth the long-run expense. The opposition argues in defense of the investors: Despite the initial economic investment, systematic and procedural costs will eventually decrease as these robot systems become more commonplace. Overall, the surgical robot technology is more precise and, with further advancement in the future, will undoubtedly become a mainstay in hospital operating rooms.

The ultimate goal for the future would be to combine the telemedicine technology with the technology used for the da Vinci surgical robot. This would allow doctors from around the globe to aid, oversee and train medical staff from distant locations. This can be tremendously valuable for timesensitive decisions and operations or when patients simply do not have access to healthcare experts in their area. Without a doubt, this technology is going to become more prevalent in hospitals across the world, ultimately raising the standard of health care for all.

Innovations in Science

The Importance of Knowing How to Work in a Team

When Nicholas Tsinoremas, director of University of Miami’s Center for Computational Science (CCS), and Richard Bookman, special advisor at UM, walked into Sawsan Khuri’s office and pitched the idea of hosting the Places and Spaces: Mapping Science exhibition, she was thrilled to be given the opportunity to lead the innovative exhibit. Places and Spaces is a collection of data visualizations that capture snapshots of reality in time and space and present them in informative, beautifully designed maps. Khuri, director of engagement of CCS, has long thought about bringing Places and Spaces to the University of Miami and had already obtained a copy of “Atlas of Science: Visualizing What We Know,” the book on which the exhibit is based. Katy Borner, information science professor at Indiana University, is the book’s author and the curator of the Places and Spaces: Mapping Science exhibition. She explained that the collection, which now includes 100 maps, is meant to “inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale.”

The Places and Spaces exhibit is one of the latest examples of the increasing importance of cross-disciplinary work, team science and scientific data visualization. It can be viewed as a team science initiative that promotes collaborative efforts across multiple fields at the university. For the Places and Spaces exhibit, CCS came together with the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Communication, the School of Architecture and the Otto G. Richter Library to make the project possible. The Lowe Art Museum was also involved, as were central media relations and facilities personnel. This was the first time the university had brought together so many diverse departments and schools to work together on a single project. The effective teamwork between all these entities was what made the exhibit so successful at UM. This exhibit marks the first time all 100 maps of the Places and Spaces exhibit have been put on display at the same time, which presented a further challenge for the university. According to Khuri, all 100 maps combined required at least 600 linear feet of space, which is about the length of two football fields. The Richter Library provided the space to display half of the maps (including the three 3-D elements) and the School of Architecture put the other half on display at their Stanley and Jewell Glasgow Hall.

- David Lin

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The exhibit has brought about increased awareness of the importance of both data visualization as well as crossdisciplinary work at the University.

It is well-documented that the importance of working in teams is steadily increasing in importance in the academic world. Khuri is passionate about teaching the principles and dynamics of team science, a field concerning logistics and teamwork between scientists working together on a project. She has extensive experience in this novel field of teamwork; in fact, her career has been a team science story. She is a biologist who became fascinated by the computer science field and has been working in both fields ever since. In her role as director of engagement for CCS, Khuri is responsible for increasing cross-disciplinary research collaboration in computational science across UM. She is able to use her position as an opportunity to engage and connect colleagues from different schools within the institution.

The Center for Computational Science (CCS) was set up in 2007 directly under the provost. The mission of CCS is to “provide a framework for promoting collaborative and multidisciplinary activities across the University and beyond,” according to the UM CCS website. One of the biggest resources available to scientists and researchers who facilitate cross-disciplinary work at CCS is Pegasus 2, an IBM-built supercomputer that provides high-performance computing for researchers who need assistance with exceedingly complex calculations. Pegasus 2 is one of the largest and most powerful supercomputers housed by an academic institution. With tools like this at its disposal, UM CCS is poised to continue fostering interdisciplinary projects, weaving different fields of science together by means of its immense computing power.

“There are no endings. Places & Spaces may be leaving, but this is also the beginning of VizUM, a visualization project that will connect the visualization efforts already in place on the three UM campuses, and initiate new efforts as well,” Khuri said. The work Khuri and CCS have done with regard to cross-disciplinary work has been nothing but successful. Their efforts have shown that it is a valuable skill to understand how to work in teams and, once it has been mastered, fruitful projects and events have no choice but to transpire.

Peptides and their Specificity with Inorganic Nanoparticles Journals

With his ongoing research on biological macromolecules and their ability to construct nanoparticles for specifically targeted applications, Dr. Marc Knecht, an associate professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Miami, continues to advance and contribute greatly to the growing field of science. In one of his recent investigations, Knecht closely analyzed the interactions and material-specific binding of certain peptides based on their affinity for gold and silver. He discovered that different modes of binding take place on both silver and gold surfaces. These observed differences directly affected the peptide-mediated synthesis of nanoparticles, where contact with the metal surfaces altered the peptide’s ability to cap nanoparticles. As a result of this study, it became clear that the different binding modes on metallic surfaces led to selective binding on certain inorganic surfaces and greatly contributed to nanoparticle nucleation and growth.

One of the main goals of this study, as described by Knecht, was to use peptides commonly found in scientific literature to gain insight into why they bind to metal surfaces (both flat and curved) with nanoparticles. Knecht explained that this study was specifically focused on gold and silver materials mainly because, when they are in their nanoparticle scale — about a billionth of a meter, their optical properties can very easily be controlled. Knecht further explained that, due to these discoveries, researchers now possess newfound abilities such as bending light to create nanomaterials for cloaking.

Knecht is now working to further his topic of study by searching for a biomolecule that controls the specificity of nature. He explained that nature typically designs each

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- Anum Hoodbhoy protein and enzyme with a specific function. Keeping this in mind, Knecht strives to uncover the basis underlying the specificity of these peptides, namely by examining how some peptides bind to silver while others bind to gold. He also hopes to investigate these peptides’ potential ability to bind to both gold and silver simultaneously. Knecht explained that, if we understand the basis of the selectivity of one peptide binding to silver and the other binding to gold, then we might be able to control such properties by linking those specific peptides together. This would then create two domains at which we could grow particles, essentially allowing us to control the distance between the particles themselves. Knecht aims to extend this idea to multiple particles, such as large three-dimensional lattices, in order to construct nanoparticle assemblies that feature easily-controllable optical properties.

Expanding this study further, Knecht intends to test the responsivity of the linker holding the two peptides together to external stimuli. He would then strike the linker with light in order to change its conformation, causing the whole biomolecule to change conformation as well. Knecht believes that this will grant control of their optical properties and potentially discover other functionalities of the peptide by its positive responses to the external stimuli provided.

One of the greatest challenges faced while conducting his research, Knecht said, was the limited amount of data available for peptides that bind specifically to certain metals. He explained that once the study was tested, the peptides were not as specific as had been anticipated. It is easy to assume that peptides only bind to one material; however, because gold and silver are similar materials, the peptides bound promiscuously between each other. Upon further investigation, he discovered that there are certain peptides that do have some degree of specificity for one metal over another.

While Knecht loves discussing his research, he also enjoys offering advice to undergraduates looking to enter the research field themselves. In regards to getting involved with the right research project, Knecht strongly advised undergraduate students to get involved with a research project they feel passionately about as early as possible in their college career. He explained that it is not always beneficial for students to wait until they are a junior in college to start research because they think they will understand more.

“There’s not that much of a difference between a sophomore and a junior,” he stated. “So get in there early and get going now.” Knecht reassured that the process of getting started in a research project might seem daunting at first, but advised that it will get easier with time. “Keep up with it and you’ll learn,” he said. “The more you do, the better off you’ll be. The more you do, the better you will understand.”

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The Exploration of Different Models in School-Based Treatment for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Journals

Working with children with autism and their families for over 25 years, Dr. Michael Alessandri is now a clinical professor in the Department of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami and currently serves as the executive director of the Center of Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD). Alessandri is involved with scientific and professional advisory boards such as the Organization for Autism Research, and he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Rethink Autism Inc. He has also been involved with the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Scientific Affairs Committee of the National Alliance for Autism Research.

One of Alessandri’s recent publications from June 2013, “Comparative Efficacy of Comprehensive Treatment Models for Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” is focused on giving school-based treatment to children with autism by providing a practical application of what are referred to as “comprehensive treatment models,” which are “models that attend to all the developmental deficits that we see in kids who have autism.” The study was conducted over a period of four years and was focused on comparing two high-quality comprehensive treatment models (LEAP and TEACCH) to each other in addition to a control condition “in which teachers in high-quality special education programs

used non-model-specific practices.” The three models each took a different approach in providing optimal treatment to kids with autism. LEAP is a model that requires students to attend school for half a day and uses a “peer-mediated instruction” method, where kids are educated alongside their typical peers. There are typically eight peers and four children with autism present in a LEAP classroom setting; in addition to this, three adults are present. On the other hand,

- Anum Hoodbhoy

TEACCH classrooms are self-contained, where only children with disabilities are present in a typical classroom. It focuses on an adult-structured learning method and is a full-day model. These two models were compared to a non-model specific (NMS) classroom where “teachers did not adhere to one model” and used an “array of evidence-based practices.”

After carefully analyzing the data collected from the three different models, no significant differences were found in the

models, leading to the conclusion that all three models (highquality TEACCH, LEAP and NMS) were equally effective in providing treatment for children with autism as students showed “significant improvement from the beginning of the school year to the end.”

When asked how to expand and improve on this topic of study, Alessandri explained that a better study would utilize a “randomized control trial where we randomly picked teachers, randomly assigned them to the philosophy of the models, and then trained them to administer the models at a higher level of fidelity.” He also provided useful advice to undergraduates who are currently doing research or wish to enter the field. He encourages to students to keep doing research and “build on an area of interest so you do not lose motivation.” He explains that it is absolutely essential, emphasizing the need to start doing research “right out of the gate when you enter your freshman year … make connections, find out what people are working on, and try to get into people’s labs early.”

Alessandri continues to stay actively involved with students who have autism by developing effective educational programs that aim to “promote positive developmental outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).”

Microfiltration and Its Uses in Detecting Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTC) is known to be one of the prime indicators of the presence and growth of cancer. However, the difficulty lies in being able to find a very small number of CTCs on the background of billions of blood cells in circulation. In their ongoing research with circulating tumor cells at the Dr. John T. MacDonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute at the University of Miami (BioNIUM), Dr. Richard Cote, Dr. Ram Datar and associates have developed a novel parylene membrane filter-based portable microdevice that has the ability to detect the presence of circulating tumor cells in human peripheral blood in a timely and efficient manner.

The microfilter uses uniformly distributed pores to separate the tumor cells from the rest of the blood in a sample. This investigation involved CTCs spiked into blood samples from healthy donors and resulted in the successful detection of the presence of CTCs using the microdevice.

In a paper published in October 2010, the CTC capture device was compared to the only FDA-cleared CellSearch System, created by Johnson and Johnson. The experiment analyzed 58 samples from four types of cancer patients. The technology created by Johnson and Johnson used magnetic capture technology to isolate the cells, whereas the microfiltration technology created at the University of Miami used size-based filtration. It was shown that the microfiltration was more effective than the magnetic capture method. The use of size-based filtration also is more costeffective compared to magnetic capture. In addition, the use of the microfilter saves time; while magnetic capture takes over two hours to complete, the microfiltration only takes eight minutes.

Today, a large number of the current investigations into the treatment and identification of cancer use molecular analytic procedures such as ELISA, PCR and gel electrophoresis, along with other assays that can be quite time-consuming and labor-intensive. The use of microfiltration technology is able to circumvent this process,

-Rohan Badlani ultimately resulting in a more efficient way to identify cancer within a patient. The use of a microfiltration device allows the researcher to detect the presence of CTCs in the blood on the basis of CTC size difference. Due to their larger size,

CTCs do pass through the filter.

The interdisciplinary nature of this research brings with it the challenge of bringing together an eclectic group of trained professionals. Ranging from physicians to engineers, this operation suffers from a technical language barrier between the fields of technology and biomedical sciences.

In order to promote a mutual understanding in pursuit of a common goal, these researchers must teach each other the terminology and thought processes associated with their respective areas of knowledge.

In the past 10 years, the laboratory has received a large amount of its funding from agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defence (DoD). “Now the scale of the research is larger and increasingly competitive, while the funding available continues to decrease,” Datar explained. “which makes moving forward ever more challenging, but fuels innovation.”

This emerging area of research offers various opportunities for undergraduate students who would like to get involved in a field of research that is of interest to them. Many organizations encourage undergraduate students to become actively involved in a variety of thought-provoking research studies as early as possible, and invites undergraduate students to take part in ongoing research projects during the summer. “This is the right time and age where students can do well in multidisciplinary projects,” Datar said. “They are not just ingrained into one slot.” He advised undergraduate students to take this time in their lives to explore other areas of study and expand their knowledge about topics in which they are interested. Datar also encourages students to get involved in paid internship opportunities, funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), particularly focusing on research for undergraduates.

Student Research Profile:

Student Profile

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Lana Chehabeddine - Peyton Brown Lana Chehabeddine is currently a senior student researcher in the School of Human Development at the University of Miami. Lana will be graduating this spring with a Bachelor of Science in exercise physiology with minors in chemistry and art. She is also involved with research for Guardrails under Dr. Wesely Smith, a clinical assistant professor in the department of kinesiology and sport sciences. She has conducted this research under the two-year Research Honors Program.

Q: How did you get involved in research?

A: Our School of Human Development had a new undergraduate program called the Honors Research Undergraduate Program. Through this, the school wanted to bring research to the undergraduates. They nominated people from the human development major and, if you completed the undergraduate research program, you received honors on your degree. Through this program, I was able to get involved in research with Guardrails. Guardrails is a health-focused study with two parts: a nutrition section and a set of tests on metabolic risk factors.

Q: What was your job within Guardrails?

A: The nutrition section is a questionnaire. You can’t really assess subjects on their blood markers ... we don’t take blood or anything like that. So, we take a patientreported questionnaire. First, Dr. West had a survey done himself but it wasn’t up to date and didn’t have research done on it.

My job was to create a new survey for subjects to take. This survey was based on research on the most recent research and most recent findings. Not only did I choose the questions, but I also had to order the questions in the survey on the order of importance and pretty much revamp the questionnaire.

My part is basically behind the scenes as I don’t have much contact with the subjects.

Q: What is the questionnaire like?

A: We started with 20 questions but we narrowed it down to 17, picking the most important ones. We wanted the questionnaire to be as precise and accurate as possible. As for the order, we started with the most important questions and ended with the least important. The first question starts out with “How many green leafy vegetables do you eat per day?” This is because we found consumption of green leafy vegetables to be one of the most important predictors of preventing chronic diseases.

Q: What is the most important aspect of Guardrails?

A: The most important aspect of Guardrails is to try to assess someone’s health within 10 minutes ... then tell them, based off of what you know in those 10 minutes, if they should maintain their health in different aspects or if they should

enhance it by for example either eating more vegetables, avoid sodas, so on and so forth. It gives them an automatic response in a printout which they can take home. In order to get this feedback, they must come into the lab to take these tests.

Q: What do you do with the data you collected?

A: We have a little over 200 participants that we have data on and my job is to look at the data and see how correlated the nutrition scores are to their metabolic risk factors. The nutrition scores are based off of the questionnaires, while the metabolic risk factors (like body fat percentage, VO2 max and waist-circumference-to-height ratio) are all obtained during the assessment in the lab. The more significant the correlation between the survey and the metabolic risk factors, the more accurate the survey.

Q: What have you found when analyzing this data so far?

A: So far, out of 10 variables that we have used, the two biggest significant factors that we have found are physical activity level and VO2 max. VO2 max is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption during physical activity. We didn’t directly calculate the VO2 max, but instead worked with a graduate student who had created an algorithm to calculate the predicted VO2 max. So far it has shown to be very significant.

Q: What are your future goals in regards to this research?

A: We are still in the process of obtaining results and conclusions but I have begun to work on the abstract now — I have to apply for the undergraduate research forum to present in March.

Q: What advice do you have for other students trying to get involved in research?

A: My advice is for students to take advantage of the opportunities that come their way and to be active about chasing their goals. Life doesn’t always hand you things — you must work for it. Also, reach out to professors and ask for their advice because they might be working on research or know others who need assistance. It is important to always try to connect with people around you; it should guarantee some good results.

Student Research Profile: Eduardo Lamas

Eduardo Lamas is an aspiring medical student and student researcher in the microbiology and immunology department at the Miller School of Medicine. Eduardo is graduating this spring with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and immunology as well as minors in Spanish, sports medicine and psychology. He is involved in research under his mentor, Dr. Martha Torroella-Kouri, research assistant professor in microbiology and immunology. His work is focused mostly around the progression of cancer — specifically, breast cancer. Together, they have analyzed the effects of dietary fat and local inflammation on the development of breast cancer in mice.

Q: What are you currently doing in the lab?

A: My mentor and I are currently conducting ongoing research in local inflammation and how it affects the development of breast cancer. We are currently doing a lot of animal behavior testing — we are injecting mice that we have kept under different diets of 2 percent and 5 percent fat, and injecting them with a molecule to see how macrophages are able to bind to this molecule and how it affects the cell. The new molecule we’re testing makes myeloid leukocytes “stickier,” less mobile and less inflammatory. It reduces mobilization and infiltration.

We hypothesize that if the molecule isn’t able to bind to the cell, it won’t because the localized inflammation we previously associated to the cancer. We have previously done research on the activity of macrophages around tumors, and have tested different molecules and their effects on macrophages and surrounding areas. We are also investigating paracrine interactions between adipocytes.

Q: Why did you decide to do research in this area?

A: I know some people go into research in order to put it on their resumes, or solely to learn techniques. I went into this lab for an entirely different reason. My grandfather died of cancer in his duodenum, and, although I am working with a lab that focuses on breast cancer, I’m hoping that our findings will somehow affect and increase our general knowledge on cancer.

I also chose this lab because we are also investigating how different factors like obesity are related to breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer here in the US, and obesity is extremely prevalent here in the US. I’m researching things that will make a difference, and that are really big problems to us here. I also love what I’m researching — I find it interesting, and that is important in any lab.

Q: What is the most challenging thing about research in this field?

A: You have to constantly innovate. There is never an experiment that will go your way completely. There are always things that need to be reworked, things that could’ve gone better, and things that are constantly changing as new variables are added.

Science is about innovation. You cannot possibly walk into a lab and think you’re going to discover something great unless you’re willing to run into a couple of roadblocks.

Q: Can you remember your first day of lab? What was it like?

A: Honestly, like everyone, I was slightly nervous, but it quickly wore off when I realized I was working with great people who were passionate about what they were doing. My mentor, Dr. Martha Torroella has been involved in breast cancer for a long time, and she has also been involved in immunology for a long time. She’s a brilliant person and a great mentor. She is always willing to help and loves explaining techniques and the ideas behind them. She encourages everyone to work really hard. I work directly with her research associate, Dr. Ana Santander, to whom I owe my knowledge of the techniques that I am now able to apply. They are both extremely great people, and excellent mentors. Things that were at first nerve-wracking are now easily done, and we have become friends — they are people I will always turn to if I need help or want to understand something.

Q: What techniques have you learned?

A: I’ve learned so much. A few that come to mind that we use often in the lab are immunohistochemistry, western blots, medicine administration for mice we are testing, animal dissection for tissue, and immunoassays.

Q: There are many undergraduates that want to do research, but are afraid of making mistakes in the lab. Do you have any advice for them? Any stories you’d like to share?

A: Well, for one, everyone makes mistakes — so you may as well do something you like and are interested in and go for it!

Everyone will mess up; even the most experienced researchers ruin experiments. Some of the greatest things discovered in science are the results of mistakes. Never be afraid to ask questions, because, remember, you are there to do research and to learn. Always remember that, in science, it is largely trial and error — you will run an experiment hundreds of times, and it will not end up perfect; you will have different results and have to think on the spot. Science is not about perfection. Stories?

I remember that I was part of a project where we had to go in every single day, even weekends, to see the development of the tumors on the mice, weigh them, etc. As I was checking one of the mice, another one almost slipped out of its cage. Luckily, I was able to close the cage on time. But like I said, mistakes happen all of the time. With experience, they will happen less often — but they will always happen.

Student Research

Student Research Profile:

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Daniel Amat

Daniel Amat is a junior-standing sophomore chemistry major, with Math & English minors on a pre-med track. Daniel is currently doing research with Dr. Roger Leblanc here at the Gables campus in the Chemistry Annex. He is currently working on developing non-toxic carbon dots, which can serve as a drug delivery technique for cancer patients. Daniel is also a chemistry lab teaching assistant for second semester chemistry, and is currently in the process of starting a chemistry club with Dr. Tegan Eve. Q: What is your research about?

A: Our research focuses on non-toxic carbon-dot-based anti-cancer drug delivery. There are many medications that we currently use for cancer. Although these medications are supposed to alleviate pain and facilitate the treatment of the cancer, they provoke many adverse side effects that eventually hurt the patient more than helping them. Carbon dots are basically small nanoparticles that can serve as better transport systems for anti-cancer drug delivery and therapies because of their ability to be absorbed by the body as well as their biocompatibility. In the lab, I make the small carbon nanoparticles, then infuse these C-dots with drugs. Each round of C-dots requires a different study and a different set of research. Although most C-dots are made the same way, the mechanisms through which the drug is absorbed or taken in by the C-dot are very different for each medication. The point of C-dots is that, if successfully administered, painful side effects (such as mouth sores, bleeding and swelling) will be reduced as a result of their encapsulation by the C-dot.

Q: Why did you decide to do research in this area?

A: I decided to do this research because cancer is so prevalent. It is affecting so many people in the United States alone, not to mention the number of victims it affects in other countries. In 2015, 600,000 Americans are projected to die of cancer. It is something that should be looked at: Tons of people die and yet, even with all of the research being done, it still isn’t enough. I’m also very passionate about providing healthcare for those in need and those who come from underprivileged communities. Chemistry wasn’t the thing that came the easiest to me. Chemistry, however, is basically in my blood: my grandfather got his Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry in Russia, and both my parents are also chemists. Other things came easier to me, but this is the major and type of research by which I felt most challenged — it was the type of research I thought I could help with most. I decided to make chemistry my major not because it came easy but because I decided to work so much at it that it became easy and interesting.

Q:What is the most challenging about this research?

A: Carbon dots are relatively new to the chemistry world. Of course, they were discovered a while ago, but the process of medical uptake is not yet completely figured out. There is a constant need to develop new ways to produce the carbon dots and to investigate the mechanisms behind the ability of the carbon dots to encapsulate and deliver the medicine that they need to provide. There are also a lot of resources that we need but that we, unfortunately, do not have.

Therefore, we are constantly trying to find newer and less expensive methods of producing C-dots of equal or greater quality. There is never a dull moment. It can be hectic and difficult but, in the end, once the carbon dots are produced, it seems like pure bliss.

Q: Can you remember your first day of lab?

A: Of course I can. Again, it was hectic and difficult because the researchers were trying to explain everything. There were new techniques of which I had never even heard of. It was difficult to keep up, and I had to learn quickly. There is so much information and so much time that goes into making even a “small” batch of C-dots. Each way to produce a carbon dot somehow varies from the original — the slightest of errors can throw off the entire experiment. Some carbon dots take from six to 12 hours; others take days. Some are of different fluorescence, have different properties and are of different sizes. There is no way to memorize anything; each dot is a world of knowledge with an abstract method behind it. The way to create a carbon dot is not standardized — it is all innovated in that moment.

Q: What techniques have you learned?

A: I have learned plenty of techniques: carbon dot creation through dehydration of carbohydrates, high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Q: You are a sophomore, and you already do so much. What did you do to get here/how do you balance everything? Do you have any advice for other undergraduates that may be interested in research?

A: As far as balancing, I know how to manage my time. I’d like to think I’m responsible and hardworking. There is no way to succeed if you aren’t willing to put in the work. Go to class and TRY. The only sure way to fail is to not try. As far as getting involved in research, become familiar with the research that you may be interested in. Find a couple of papers on PubMed or even on the researcher’s web page. Read these papers and then read more on the subject. Become an informed student; you never want to appear clueless in front of a professor, much less about something that they’ve dedicated their life to. But, most of all, be confident in your abilities to contribute something to the lab. The researcher was once in your position, asking for their first research opportunity. If you are informed, you’re already one step ahead. Lastly, do not fake interest. Research is one of the most interesting things students can do but, if they aren’t interested in what they are researching, they will see it as a tedious task, and the professor will pick up on it. Choose something that you’re passionate about that you don’t mind picking up and starting back over again. Science is all trial and error — and when I say that, I mean it is error upon error until, one day, you finally achieve meaningful results and are able to add something to our collective repository of scientific knowledge.

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Regulation of B lymphopoiesis during aging Generation of immune tolerance to human allogeneic kidney transplants Malaria, Leishmania Quality of the immune system in breast cancer patients in response to psychosocial intervention Neonatal immunity T Helper cell function in neonatal life Intestinal pathogens in neonatal life uto une and n a ator echan s s n d a etes and cancer Defects in B cells, T cells and antigen-presenting cells Murine tumor models to develop multi-pronged approaches to potentiate vaccine- and naturally-induced antitumor immunity Personalized enzyme- based therapy for cancer of the pancreas, lungs, brain, colon, rectum, breast, head and neck Molecular genetics of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation Molecular genetics of stem cell self-renewal and maintenance Developmental biology and plasticity of hematopoietic stem cells u us and e d a etes ut also to unodefic enc es and cell al nanc es Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD) in models of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) Rejection of the marrow graft: The ‘barrier’ against stem cell and progenitor cell engraftment post-BMT Immunotherapy for Leukemia he a l t to fi unct ons hen ller l hoc tes are orced out o tune and o er hel ed a cont nuousl ro n tu or or chronic infections such as HIV or Hepatitis B and C A unique mucin immunoenhancing peptide with antitumor properties Mammary tumor effects on thymic development and functions Impaired functions of macrophages from tumor bearing mice Role of tumor associated factors in the upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in T cells from tumor bearers Cytokine receptor regulation of T lymphocyte development, activation, and memory; T regulatory cells in suppression of autoimmunity Immunobiology of T regulatory cells The IL-2 receptor in T regulatory cell development T cell immunity and cytokine receptor signaling Memory T cells in tumor immunity Molecular mechanisms of viral carcinogenesis and angiogenesis activation by the Kaposi’s sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV) dent ficat on o the ral rote n cou led rece tor as an an o en c onco ene o S dent ficat on o cloo enase as a ed ator o P R an o enes s and tu or enes s A cell and animal model of KSHV-mediated carcinogenesis Microbial pathogenesis, Transcriptional regulation Vaccine-induced memory CD4T cells and HIV reservoirs Antibody responses in HIV and aging Immune activation in virologically suppressed Indian HIV-Infected patients Molecular pathogenesis of Yersinia pestis Antigen cross presentation by chaperone gp96 to generate Cytotoxic T cells Regulating T Regulatory Cells with TNFRSF25 Membrane tethered Perforin-2 and control of intracellular killing Regulation of B Lymphocyte development and function in senescence Cellular microbiology e at e re ulat on o and n a at on echan s o a ed ated act at on Negative regulation of JAK/STAT signaling pathway by HTLV-1 Tax Studies of TNF superfamily ligands as vaccine adjuvants for HIV, malaria, and cancer Construction and testing of molecular adjuvants that enhance replication-defective HIV or SIV attenuated virus vaccines Clinical study of therapeutic HIV vaccines containing antigen-loaded ex vivo derived dendritic cells Role of innate immunity and especially of macrophages in the interplay between a tumor and the host’s immune system

For more information please go to: www.facebook.com/microbiology.immunology https://advancement.miami.edu/netcommunity/sslpage.aspx?pid=1281 biomed.miami.edu/default.asp?p=199&s=71

Student Research

A “Vision”-ary’s Battle on Glaucoma Student Research Profile: Areeba Imam

27

- Mirza Baig

The Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami exhibits a beacon of innovation poised for pursuing breakthroughs in medical research. In efforts to purge harmful and complex illnesses such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease, the Miller School faculty earns more than a quarter of a billion dollars from agencies in projects sought for improving human health. Among the numerous facilities responsible for providing world-class care, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute stands out for the most recognition in its specialty. Ranked as the best in ophthalmology in the nation for more than a decade, Bascom Palmer’s physicians and scientists also direct research labs involved with investigating methods of improving clinical care. With an asset like this facility to the University of Miami, undergrads demonstrating determination, motivation, and enthusiasm are provided the opportunity to work with researchers in implementing the institute’s mission.

One of these undergrads is Areeba Imam, a Pre-Medical student majoring in Biochemistry at the University of Miami. For the past year, she has been working in Dr. Sanjoy Bhattacharya’s lab.

His lab focuses on research surrounding the neurodegenerative diseases of glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. Glaucoma is a condition affecting more than 3 million Americans, in which increased internal eye pressure results in damage to the optic nerve, leading to severe vision loss and blindness, while multiple sclerosis is an illness that impairs the central nervous system resulting in broken communication between the brain and body.

Imam’s research experience began with first observing Dr. Bhattacharya conduct several simple protocols. These protocols included the methods to passage cells, change the media of cells, as well as other techniques involving immunohistochemistry, Western and dot blots, and multiple protein extractions. Initially, her mentor she focused on experimental procedures concerning cochlin’s interaction with TREK-1 potassium channels.

However, recently Imam began to work on her own independent project, which is concentrated on examining the order of protein expression in human trabecular meshwork cells.

Prior to beginning experimentation however, she elicits that “a foundation of knowledge had to be established.” Intensive research done by a previous lab member revealed a model that is analogous to the restriction modification system in bacteria.

His hypothesis states that under increasing levels of internal eye pressure (IOP), protein expression is altered in trabecular meshwork cells, yielding in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. “With this assumption, further research identified ten proteins of focus for my project,” she says. “For the last couple of weeks, I have been experimenting to determine the baseline level of expression for each of the proteins of focus.”

The procedure involves RNA extraction from normal trabecular meshwork (NTM 5) and glaucomatous trabecular meshwork (GTM 3) cells, followed by first-strand cDNA synthesis, and finally amplification by standard PCR. The process begins by first identifying 30 proteins that are up/down regulated with respect to the trabecular meshwork stretching. These collections of proteins are then assessed through two databases: NCBI Nucleotide Database and the UCSC Genome Bioinformatics, that search and detect for the promoter region. “I then use an algorithm called the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, or BLAST, which helps find the common regions between the two sequences of each protein sensed by the databases,” Imam explains. This algorithm is also very useful in identifying the putative promoter region. This particular amino acid sequence is copied into the Genoamatix, allowing her to obtain a list of transcription factors found in the promoter regions of each protein. According to Imam, understanding these transcription factors and their characteristics are crucial to the study since they can have a connection to stretching and pressure.

The essence of her experiment is in studying a situation analogous to the restriction modification system in bacteria NTM 5 and GTM 3 cells to determine the changes in protein expression as a result of stretching in the trabecular meshwork.

And after classifying and sorting the proteins through all of these mechanisms, only 10 are being focused on. These proteins are up/ down regulated with respect to changes in lipid and prostaglandins.

“Previous research has shown that topical application of lipids and prostaglandins have lowered IOP in glaucomatous patients and cochlin is chosen as a part of these 10 proteins since it is linked in glaucomatous tissue.”

From this background, Imam hypothesizes that at different levels of IOP, the expression levels of protein in NTM 5 and GTM 3 cells will refashion due to the proteins being studied containing similar transcription factors. A baseline level of protein expression is first established with Reverse Transcriptase PCR. The NTM 5 and GTM 3 cells are then placed under varying pressures to stimulate increasing IOP levels in patients.

The expression levels are then quantified with Real-Time PCR and subsequently compared with the baseline levels to analyze the results. “Changes in protein profiles with increasing pressure may contribute to glaucoma,” Imam claims.

Imam hopes to continue working on the project throughout her time at the University of Miami. Throughout her time in research so far, she has learned that the practical application of science solidifies details that cannot be taught through a textbook.

“It is a consistent learning experience of which Dr. Bhattacharya and his team have taught me to be patient, yet diligent in my work.”

Imam intends to continue her work on the project in order to gain a better understanding of the potential pathogenesis of glaucoma.

How May I Assist You Today?

- Barbara Pouzidus It is safe to assume the day after Halloween was spent recovering from a nasty hangover, potentially munching on some candy or even celebrating Day of the Dead. For Britany Maynard, the day after Halloween was the day she chose to end her own life. She shared her moving story with the public in which she recounted her struggle with a recurrent brain tumor. While she had considered myriad different options, from radiation therapy to end-of-life care in hospice, Maynard ultimately elected to receive a prescription for pills that would terminate her life. Physician-assisted suicide gave Britany Maynard a sense of autonomy and dignity; however, most people do not have this option. In the United States — a country where 45 states have banned physician-assisted suicide — Maynard poses a fundamental question: “Who has the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice? That I deserve to suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain?”

Oregon gave Britany Maynard the response she had been looking for.

For over a decade, Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act has provided relief from suffering exclusively to patients who, like Maynard, are terminally ill but still retain competency. These patients must formally request the prescription on two separate accounts with a waiting period of two weeks between each request and must be given information about alternatives to aid in dying. Oregon’s statute has served as a shining example for right-to-die advocates as well as a model in Vermont and Washington, where similar legislation has been passed. (Hedlund) More and more states are considering passing an aid in dying. In fact, 72% of students surveyed on campus believe physician assisted suicide should be legalized in the United States. A consensus supporting for aid in dying for the terminally ill is growing throughout the country. (Orenlichter) An important proviso of Oregon’s law requires the patient to affirm his or her choice to end their life not once but twice over a span of fifteen days so as to ensure that no second-hand coercion or pressure yielded the decision. Since a major argument favoring aid in dying is based upon upholding autonomy, it is necessary

to confirm that this decision is one the patient truly wants to make. With the introduction of “voluntary” deaths in the form of physician-assisted suicide, a double standard regarding freedom has begun to surface: people are told to do what they want unless what they want is to end their suffering the only way they view possible -- through death.

While society may consider such a notion to be gloomy or defeatist, the decision to die -- if reached through rational evaluation of circumstances which, in this case, usually includes debilitating pain -- should be treated as any other decision.

(Jackson) To deny people who determine that their own life is not worth living also denies them an end to what causes a complete depletion of a standard of life. These patients lose what may be the one piece of them left living -- their dignity. (Grayling) Yet, politicians, families and doctors attempt to restrict the choices made by competent adults whose quality of life is irreparably ruined by suffering; They are trying to kill the one thing the disease or illness did not.

How badly are terminally-ill patients suffering without the option to end their own life? Most patients who request physicianassisted death do not cite pain or suffering as the main reason for doing so. (Van Norman) Most patients know that the very baseline of suffering -- the physical discomfort or pain -- can be allayed through end-of-life palliative care. Such care has been made rather effective through recently-improved pain-reducing medications and specialty in dealing with the psychological and physical needs of patients who face incurable diseases. Legalization of assisted suicide would threaten the delicate relationship founded uponon trust between the patient and the healthcare practitioner who is expected to preserve life. This fundamental shift in patient-doctor relations is especially bad for palliative care which specifically aims to increase quality of life to the very end. (Bopp) In Oregon, the case of Barbara Wagner, who was denied payment for pain medication but instead given only the choice of medication that would end her life, shows how assisted dying can not only limit personal choice but also erode palliative care.

According to Dr. Chukwuemeka Ikpeazu, an oncologist specializing in lung cancer and head and neck cancers at the Sylvester Cancer Center, recommends palliative

“Who has the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice?

That I deserve to suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain?”

-Britany Maynard

treatment which can ameliorate symptoms and increase survival. He has no complaints with the treatment and claims his patients react positively to it. Dr. Ikpeazu’s experience involving palliative care and his patients derail proponents of aid in dying. He explains, “I have never encountered a patient who told me they wanted to commit suicide…very few patients will tell [me] they don’t want any treatment, maybe 1-2%” Even more vital to healthcare and treatment of patients with incurable disease would be the relationship between doctor and patient.

Around 60% of doctors in Oregon support physician assisted suicide believing it preserves doctor-patient relations. The first and well-known text to codify how doctors should treat patients is the Hippocratic Oath. The original oath dating back to Ancient Greece promoted doing anything for the benefit of the patient and explicitly bans administering drugs intended to kill the patient. However, this old version also forbids cutting patients, which clearly would make modern medicine impossible. While the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath has removed the stipulation that would conflict with assisted suicide, the current physician’s oath still emphasizes the doctor’s role as healer with a priority to do no harm. (Tyson) Removing suffering from terminally-ill patients who wish to die fall under a doctor’s duty to heal patients according to proponents of assisted dying. However, Dr. Ikpeauzu personally believes that physician assisted suicide violates the Hippocratic Oath by eroding the idea to preserve life which further destabilizes doctor’s role of healer. Just a year before Oregon legalized aid in dying, Dr. Lonnie Bristow, former president of the American Medical Association, aired similar views, “The American Medical Association rejects physician-assisted suicide as unethical and incompatible with a physician’s commitment ‘to healing and to life.’” As he explains, allowing physician assisted suicide endangers the trust given to physicians by patients which is vital to provide quality healthcare. (Bristow) Despite a system that already has treatments in place for the terminally-ill, people believe a peaceful death brought upon by pills is preferential. The topic is still controversial with a challenge between granting the ill an autonomous choice and relief from pain and the risk involved with dismantling the ethics of healthcare. For cases like Britany Maynard, where her choice, made without coercion, got rid of pain, it seems like Oregon is graciously granting the right to dignified death.

However, it may be a bit idealistic and naïve to believe a system like Oregon’s, while well-intentioned, can prevent all potential harms such as in Barbara Wagner’s situation. In Oregon, less than one-half of one percent of people deaths are due to physician aid in dying.( Orenlichter) Is it worth risking an entire system for the few instances where people instead of being coerced actually achieve a dignified death? Assisted death, while a good idea, opens up a system that is already working to uncertainty and attrition.

“In your opinion, does physician assisted suicide violate the idea of the Hippocratic Oath?”

Disagree 13%

Agree

87%

We asked our Facebook followers what they thought about physician assisted suicide. Here are their thoughts: “The duty of a doctor is to best help patients avoid and ease their suffering. Normally, this should take place with preventative, lifeelongating measures that follow general public health protocols (e.g. vaccination, regular check-ups, etc.). When prevention fails, the medical paradigm shifts to one based in treatment, aiming to alleviate pain and suffering while relieving the patient of their disease.

Unfortunately, some cases develop to a point where they aren’t treatable; the patient has a low chance of survival. When impending death is paired with relentless pain, the patient deserves their choice of how they want to approach their ailment. Some find solace in spending their final months with their families; they should be able to make that decision. However, not all people will find such comfort and would rather escape their condition earlier. For some, this is an issue of control, whereas others take this route in the interest of comfort. To accommodate these people, physicians must be allowed to determine the safest, most effective methods of physicianassisted suicide. To ignore this necessity is to ignore the role of a physician.”

-Joe Reda, Freshman, Biomedical Engineering “To take another view point. Doctors are trained to cure and give hope to their patients. Expecting physicians to willingly assist in suicide is unrealistic. If ALL options are exhausted for physical and mental treatment and the patient is truly suffering, I support PAS. However, I believe the medical practitioners should have the right to say no to administering PAS. Personally as a future physician, I would have a problem being forced to assist in the suicide of another individual.”

-Payal Patel, Junior, Physics

We put our pets to sleep when they’re under too much pain, and there is no hope for recovery yet, we force our loved ones to endure on when hope is lost, and pain unendurable. Those that oppose physician assisted suicide due so taking into account a religious construction on life, and because our government should emphasize the separation of the state and church, physician assisted suicide should be an individual’s choice.

-Valentina Suarez, Junior, English

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate: Is That Even A Question?

- Gabrielle Eisenberg Vaccines. This single, two-syllable word has the ability to stir fear and debate in people of all ages. To children, it means a painful injection sometimes followed by a cartoon-covered bandage and a reward for their bravery.

To parents, it means watching vigilantly for fevers and other reactions while additionally trying to filter through all of the horror stories they may have heard throughout their lives.

Luckily, pediatricians are there to shed some light on the truths regarding parents’ concerns and help them to decide the best course of action to take for their child. But to what extent do pediatricians feel they have a responsibility to ensure the vaccinations of all of their patients?

Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, a pediatrician who specializes in development and behavior at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine sheds some understanding on this issue. “Like almost all pediatricians, I feel a great obligation to make sure that all of my patients are fully vaccinated,” Brosco admitted. “Vaccines are the single most important public health advance in the last one hundred years in terms of things that doctors do for individual patients. The number of diseases we used to worry about as pediatricians have decreased dramatically because of vaccines, so there is no doubt that of the things that I do in my office for patients, vaccines are probably the single most important.”

However, despite this claim, many parents remain fearful and unsure in regards to the decision to vaccinate their children. Brosco said, “A lot of families have concerns such as, ‘What is this product? What are the side effects?

Is this safe?’ When I talk to families, I explain to them that vaccines are remarkably safe products.” While there are risks associated with vaccines — as there are with most things — this risk is only minimal. Luckily, pediatricians like Brosco are there to expound on those risks and assuage parents’ anxieties. Brosco explained, “There are risks to everything we do. There are risks to vaccines, and it is important for parents to know about that and ask about them. When I talk to them about it, I have them understand that if their goal is to protect the health of their child, then giving the vaccines is much more beneficial than not.” Immunizations are so important that there are only a few rare instances in which a child should not be vaccinated. According to Brosco, there are “some medical conditions that typically are related to your immune system, so there are certain vaccines that you should not give to a child who has immunosuppression.

There are a few other rare occasions, but by and large most children should be getting all of the recommended

vaccines.”

If vaccines are play such crucial roles in promoting children’s health and safety, then why do they elicit such staunch opposition? Besides certain religious and personal values, the main source of antivaccine hysteria is the claim that they cause children to develop autism. Autism is defined by Autism Speaks as a complex developmental disorder that is distinguished by difficulties with socialization and communication and repetitive actions. The alleged connection between autism and vaccines was first proposed by a British researcher named Andrew Wakefield. In the 1990s, Wakefield and his research team published a study in the scientific journal Lancet in which they claimed to have discovered a link between the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine and autism. However, it was discovered that there were many problems with Wakefield’s experiment, most notably that he used unreliable data and was being funded by attorneys who were suing vaccine companies.

Unfortunately, before these errors were revealed, many parents stopped vaccinating their children. The result?

As immunization rates decreased, childhood death rates increased.

Subsequent studies have been conducted in order to finally end this controversial debate. Brosco clarified, “Wakefield’s thesis was that, since your immune system is triggered by the MMR, you can find certain traces of measles in certain lymph nodes in the body. A group at Columbia University used much more sophisticated techniques to see if they could replicate the experiment and find traces of the effects of the MMR vaccine. What is fascinating about the way they did their research was they included people on their team who were believers in Wakefield’s thesis. They collaborated to come up with an experiment that they could all agree would answer their question, and that experiment showed that there is not a relationship. The facts are very clear that autism is not related to vaccines.”

Even when presented with all of the above information, some parents may still opt to not vaccinate their children. Regardless of their decision, the reasoning is the same: parents want only to protect their children and are resolved to do so in the manner they see most fit.

However, it is reasonable to trust that a painful prick is the only thing to fear, and even that can be pacified by a pretty bandage and a lollipop.

No Patient Left Behind

- Madiha Ahmed

Ethics in Science

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Number and Percentage of People by Health Insurance Status: 2013 (Population as of March of the following year)

Percent 0

In millions 42.0

Uninsured

271.4

With health insurance

201.1

Any private plan

20

40

60

80

Cryogenics used to be a thing of fiction novels, 169.0 Employment-based 34.5 Direct-purchase scoffed at when discussed in any realistic manner. Today, the reality of cryogenics is becoming more apparent with Any government plan 107.6 Medicare 49.0 each passing year of research and with each advancement Medicaid 54.1 toward clinical trials.

Military health care* 14.1 Cryogenics is the practice of freezing a body to *Military health care includes TRICARE and CHAMPVA (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs), as well as care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the military. such a low temperature that cell function is suspended, but can be revived at a later time. This practice has been between the “haves” and “have-nots” emerges, especially for used on hundreds of “patients” in the past fifty years — in those who cannot afford insurance in the first place (about 30 other words, there are hundreds of bodies that are medically million Americans, according to the 2014 Census). Further pronounced dead yet still suspended in laboratories in highlighting the problem presented by cryogenics are the the hope that they may one day be revived. These cases results of recent studies showing that wealthy individuals are are considered ideal cryogenics cases because the patients not the ones who usually opt for the procedure. Many that themselves decided, prior to their death, that they wanted to inquire about it are middle-class individuals who had worked undergo the process instead of a burial. hard throughout their lives and discovered the procedure later The ethical issues regarding this practice can be in life, calling it a “second chance.” However, the procedural divided by its two scenarios: ideal and non-ideal cryogenics cost increases with age, thereby marginalizing who can be cases. Non-ideal cases made their debut in a study performed given another chance at life (theoretically) and who cannot. in the spring of 2014; they deal with patients who are not yet More recently, the focus of concern has been shifting dead, but are dying. These patients are typically suffering from toward the non-ideal cases because the patients themselves fatal injuries but could potentially be saved had the doctors are in no condition to give consent for the process. Informed more time to perform the necessary surgeries, hence the use consent is indisputably one of the most important aspects of of cryogenics to suspend the bodies’ cell functions and energy performing any experimental trial on human beings. Is it the expenditures. doctor’s or the family’s right to make the decision? When do The process calls for induced hypothermia to offset damage by they make the call for suspending animation? None of these heavy blood loss and low oxygen levels. The patient lingers in questions have concrete answers and consequently, a slippery limbo between life and death while doctors work to keep them slope arises within the subject of medical ethics. alive. Then, the patient is hooked up to machines to restore Technically, under the FDA, informed consent is blood and circulation while simultaneously warming up the exempt in these cases because there is no other alternative for body for revival. Successful trials have been performed on pigs the patient. Even with modern technology such as ventilators — promising, but not certain. and IVs, survival rate of those with severe wounds is less The concerns of this practice are multifaceted than 10 percent. However, with suspended animation, it is and many are unsure how to address the qualms that are possible that many more lives could be saved if applied to presented. Foremost, an issue of equality obviously presents both military and civilian use, which may very well justify the itself in the ideal cases. While most insurance companies overlooked consent aspect. Thus, the overarching purpose of claim to cover the cost of cryonics after you pass away, it medical research and technology of preserving life wherever hikes up your insurance cost significantly as you age. The it can be preserved is on the precipice of being fulfilled. Trials initial cost for the procedure normally ranges from $80,000 for humans have been approved and will be underway starting to $200,000 — depending on which body parts are frozen this year. Though the results will take years to compile, the — and an additional charge is incurred with each passing future holds the possibility of leaving far fewer patients behind year that the body is maintained in liquid nitrogen. A divide than we ever have in the past.

Shop Local, Think Global - Kierin Mukerjee and Renuka Ramchandran

Gyros. Arepas. Boba tea. Artisanal bread.

These foods are the pride and joy of various countries around the world. In the old days, you would have had to travel the world to get an authentic taste of these fabulous dishes. In more recent times, you would still have to get in a car and drive around to the local Greek market or French bakery (and let’s be honest, ain’t nobody got time to sit through US-1 traffic). Today, however, all you have to do is take a walk by the Foote Green to experience these authentic, traditional flavors at the UM farmer’s market. This farmer’s market takes place every Wednesday from 11 am – 3 pm and offers some of the best, locally-sourced ethnic foods money can buy.

You know that saying “Just like mama used to make”? Most of the foods at the farmer’s market are family recipes that have been passed down after years of perfecting.

Take Marlene Apostolopoulos and her family at Gyrolicious.

Marlene decided she wanted to start a food stand instead of a restaurant and drew inspiration from her husband and his Greek ancestry to come up with Gyrolicious. “All the food here is fresh. We sell different gyros, fresh pasta orzo salad, Greek salads, homemade baklava, and homemade Greek spinach pie,” Marlene said. The amazing thing about Gyrolicious is the fact that it is 100 percent family owned and operated. When you order a gyro, she takes the order; her husband and son cook up the delicious lamb; and her other son will put the gyro together with all of the fixings. As Marlene explained, “This is a family-run business. I make all the food. My husband loves to talk to the kids. My daughter came up with the name!” The foundation for Gyrolicious’s success was built on a family recipe delivered in a family setting. How much more authentic can you get?

If gyros don’t pique your interest, there’s a good chance a little kettle corn will. And by a little, I mean an enormous bag of kettle corn that is sure to satisfy any and all cravings. Daniel Fernandez at Incredible Kettlecorn sells some of the best kettle corn in the country. Don’t believe me?

Try a sample. The kettle corn is freshly cooked and comes in a variety of flavors, such as sweet & salty, caramel, and — if you feel like getting funky — blue raspberry cherry. Where did this kettle corn come from? “This is my dad’s business,” Fernandez told me . “He saw a line of people at Jackson Hospital and was in shock at how many people were waiting for kettle corn. That’s when he decided to buy a kettle on Craig’s list and now we go to three different markets on the same day.” Why is kettle corn so popular? According to Fernandez, “it has a specific flavor to it. Each kernel has a thin glaze of sugar on it and then the salt sticks to that, which makes it very light. Even people

Health Science

who don’t like popcorn, they love this.”

Kettle corn and gyros are time-honored traditions, but sometimes you just want to try something new. If that’s the case, then you should take a trip over to the new Cupcake Sushi stall. Yes, you read those two words correctly. It’s a cupcake in the form of sushi. Served in little bento boxes , these desserts have become one of Key West’s most unique and have started to make a name for themselves here in our Miami community. Where did the idea come from?

CupcakeSushi partner Eric Claussen explained to us, “Lori, the creator and baker, had clients that kept asking her to make little mini cupcakes and she’s like ‘I am not going to

wrap my little cupcakes in paper.’ So she came up with the idea of wrapping it in buttercream frosting and BOOM! Cupcake Sushi was born!” Instead of taking ordinary storebought cupcakes to your next social event — where you’ll get the obligatory thank you (but no thanks) — why not bring a dessert that will not only satisfy everyone’s tastes, but also serve as a quirky conversation piece. After all, who doesn’t want to be the life of the party?

Not only does the farmer’s market serve some of the most diverse foods, but it also aims to improve your health with stands like the Green Bar and Chia Ballz. The Green

33

Bar epitomizes what the Farmer’s Market stands for — supporting local enterprise while providing customers with sustainable, organically grown products. The Green Bar takes locally-sourced vegetables and fruits and blends them into a perfect, antioxidant-rich smoothie. Similarly, Chia Ballz is on a mission to prove that healthy and delicious do not have to be mutually exclusive. “When you think healthy, you think cardboard and no flavor; with Chia Ballz, you can still enjoy your flavor,” explained Lina, founder and creator of Chia Ballz. She wants to provide healthy food because “we are in a society right now where everything is mass-produced. Everything that we are consuming has preservatives and crazy chemicals. Population is starting to show that.

We are being mummified before we even die because there are so many health problems and diseases.”

She accomplishes this goal by making every batch the night before to ensure its freshness.

Maybe food isn’t your thing, but that does not mean the Farmer’s Market isn’t for you. While food may be the predominant theme, the Farmer’s Market sells other quality goods. Take, for example, Kawaii Universe, founded by Valentina, an artist based out of the Wynwood District who specializes in original illustrations. “Kawaii means cute in Japanese,” Valentina explained. “It embodies energy.” These unique illustrations are printed, hand- pressed, and handcut into artisan stickers that you can place on your walls, laptops, phones or cars. These beautiful pieces of art are oneof-a-kind and can’t be found anywhere else.

Regardless of what you're looking for, the Farmer's Market has something for everyone. From delicious food to handmade backpacks, you won't go home disappointed.

More important than any physical good, though, are the people that you'll encounter there. Many people are waiting to be met; many stories are waiting to be told.. You may stop by expecting to buy a coconut shake and instead walk out with a new friend. That's the beauty of the farmer’s market: it’s so much more than just food — it's an unforgettable experience you don't want to miss.

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Fat -vs-

Before the infamously misleading studies in the 1970s that falsely concluded fat intake caused higher cholesterol levels as well as death by heart disease, Americans were taking in 45 percent of their calories from fats and oils.

At that point, the rates of adult obesity and diabetes were 13 percent and under 1 percent, respectively. Now, Americans only take 33 percent of their calories from fats and oils, but obesity rates have increased to 34 percent while diabetes rates have skyrocketed to 11 percent in adults. Since then, instead of the predicted decline in the systemic disorders, the number of individuals suffering from heart disease, diabetes and obesity has more than doubled in the past 20 years. The question is: Why? These studies ushered in an era that demonized the necessary macronutrient, causing food companies to eliminate fat from many of their products. This generated a new market and a new selling point for companies. They began introducing low-fat and fat-free counterparts of their products and touted them as “heart healthy.” However, as a result, the taste of their products suffered, forcing producers to replace lipids with refined sugars as a means of improving palatability. What was not understood at that time was that the replacement of fat with sugar would remove a nutrient necessary for the synthesis of cell membranes and vital hormones for proper growth and development.

When the country as a whole made the decision to remove fat from the typical American diet, the common misconception arose that an increased fat intake caused obesity and heart disease. However, the studies from the 1970s transformed correlational data to a definitive causality — a flaw pointed out in later studies. Namely, Harvard’s Public Health division led the study that refuted this longheld belief. They asked one group of subjects to replace their saturated fat intake with carbohydrates and another group to replace it with mono- and polyunsaturated fats. The findings indicated that those on the low-fat diet were more prone to developing hyperglycemia whereas their “fatty” counterparts showed an increase in heart health. Furthermore, this study linked the increased refined sugar intake to the increased disease rates of diabetes and obesity and also made a strong

- Faizah Shareef case for a reintegration of fats into the American diet. This study was also the first to highlight the fact that the quality of the fats in the American diet needs to be improved. This study illuminated our shaded understanding of fat as a component in our diet and indicated that the main impetus for our dismal walk into an epidemic arose the day we cut out fat and accepted sugar.

In the time of hunters and gatherers, our sugar intake was highly limited but efficiently used. As a result, our bodies developed a storage system that relied on insulin to move sugars into muscles for future use. However, in our current sedentary environment, that fuel source has been underused, causing fat to be stored around organs. Furthermore, the quality of our sugars has fallen significantly, with the liver constantly being bombarded with refined white breads and sugars (both of which are processed in the same manner), which it then stores as body adipose tissue if they are not mobilized through activity. But when storage space is occupied, sugar begins flowing through blood at elevated levels, damaging nerves and muscle on the way and forcing the pancreas into overdrive. To prevent pronounced muscle damage with elevated sugar levels, the body has a natural defense mechanism that releases c-peptide along with insulin to dampen sugar’s negative effects. But, this defense system cannot function properly if the scale of sugar intake is beyond threshold. Sadly, since the brain relies solely on glucose to function, these detriments have generally been overlooked.

In America we have, as a result of removing fat, added a new silent killer into our foods that is the real cause of the increase in prevalence of preventable diseases. The hallmark misconception of the fat-demonizing era serves as a lesson from which we must learn; a new emphasis needs to be placed on the quality of the fats and sugars instead of the macronutrients as a whole. But for now, the refined sugar intake that has skyrocketed tenfold in the past century has taken the crown off of fat as the new point of concern for healthcare professionals.

The Importance of Nutrition - Joseph Bonner

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ny newcomer to physical fitness or proper nutrition will, at some point, come across the notion of meal frequency — or, in layman’s terms, the number of meals eaten in a given 24-hour period. And while some popular sentiments preach the necessity of consuming five to six meals a day to “stoke the metabolic fire,” scientific evidence in general seems to say something very different. While more research is necessary to elucidate the effects of meal frequency on body composition, thermogenesis, fat metabolism, insulin responses, performance and other bodily functions, current data suggest that there is not enough support in favor of consuming more meals per day as an optimal form of eating.

A common argument in the school of thought supporting frequent meals throughout the day is the notion that it leads to increased caloric expenditure for processing the extra meals consumed. This calorie burn is said to be related to dietary induced thermogenesis, the body’s ability to produce heat from digesting food. Some proponents state that dietary induced thermogenesis increases significantly with more opportunities for the body to digest meals.

A few studies have shown a positive correlation between meal frequency and thermogenesis, but many others have shown no such correlation between the two. In general, the

body of evidence seems to demonstrate that partitioning nutrients over several meals does not necessarily lead to an increase in thermogenesis nor in metabolism.

This same line of thinking suggests frequent meals are more beneficial for appetite suppression and satiety. The logic behind this is that infrequent feeding leads to hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, which physiologically encourages our bodies to crave simple sugars to replenish blood glucose levels. However, the data supporting this hypothesis are inconsistent and do not indicate any convincing correlations. Some studies have indeed shown that more meals throughout the day are helpful in reaching fullness and promoting hunger-related hormones, while others suggest the opposite. It seems that individual factors play a more significant role in daily nutrient partitioning.

Then, you might ask, what about insulin levels?

Insulin is a hormone that is related to blood sugar levels; would huge spikes in insulin from infrequent meals not cause an increased storage of fat? Not quite. Several studies have supported the hypothesis that frequent meals aid in balancing blood glucose levels and insulin, but they have not shown that fat metabolism is greatly affected by a change in meal frequency. In layman’s terms, although insulin levels are regulated by increased meal frequency, insulin does not necessarily affect fat loss. Caloric intake seems to be much more important for fat metabolism and accumulation than is insulin.

So far we have only discussed the hormonal and chemical factors of the equation. Studying the relationship between meal frequency and body composition — specifically, its impact on fat-free mass, fat loss and body fat percentage changes — would shed more light on the issue. Fat loss and body fat percentage are common markers of body composition, but it is important to mention fat-free mass as well. Fat-free mass refers to muscle mass, skeletal mass and anything that is not fat in the body. Preserving fat-free mass, mainly muscle, is important for maintaining strength, performance, and metabolic function. Decreases in fat-free mass usually means that muscle is being broken down for fuel. Similarly, decreases in muscle mass can indicate that the body is undergoing too much stress from exercise or excessive caloric restriction.

A team of researchers recently conducted a meta-analysis of 15 studies on meal frequency. They carefully selected the 15 studies from a selection of 327 by using a rigorous list of criteria to ensure the studies chosen were relevant. Their meta-analysis accounted for fat-free mass, fat loss and body fat percentage. Their findings seemed to indicate that fat-free mass retention somewhat correlated with increased meals. However, after preliminary permutation tests were conducted on nine studies chosen from the original 15, the correlation was no longer significant. In addition, sensitivity analyses revealed that one study, when removed from the group, made the correlation between fatfree mass retention and meal frequency lose its significance.

Fat loss seemed to have similar results. There was a general trend of increased meal frequency correlating with fat loss, but the significance of the correlation was based entirely on that same study. Once that study was removed from the analysis, the correlation was nullified. Permutation tests also showed that changes in body fat percentage did not have a significant correlation with meal frequency. Selective analysis also revealed that another study heavily influenced the correlation. Once that study was removed from the analysis, the correlation became insignificant.

Scientific research and inquiry is driven by skepticism, innovation and experimentation. The studies I have referenced for this article have all utilized their resources to attempt to answer compelling questions about meal frequency and related topics. The data mentioned here do not ultimately decide that a certain meal frequency is the healthiest and best way to consume food. Rather, it offers valuable information about what some of the general research has indicated thus far. It seems that there are not enough data to conclusively say that a given meal frequency is most optimal. To further answer that question, as many other scientific phenomena, more research should be conducted.

Let us not forget that research is also only so relevant. There are so many individual factors to consider with meal frequency that it would likely be more worthwhile for a given person to find the meal frequency that best fits his or her personal lifestyle and goals. I would also suggest that any person striving to improve his or her body composition should focus on their overall caloric and macronutrient (protein, carbohydrates and fat) intake, as well as eating micronutrient-dense and fibrous food sources.

Q: As college students, its very difficult to stay healthy. The long nights and early mornings are perfect grounds for undereating or overeating. What is your best suggestion for staying healthy in college?

A: In general, for college students there is always a lot going on and it’s easy to lose track of nutrition since you have so much going on. My first piece of advice is to hold yourself accountable for your nutrition. Make time, choose healthier options at the dining hall, and realize that fitness in general is a lifestyle change. It is definitely a marathon, not a sprint.

Falling off of the wagon one week doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Just get back up, and get consistent habits.

Q: Do you keep food in your dorm?

What should people do as far as creating a healthier routine?

A: I actually don’t have food in my dorm. It limits the temptation of overindulging. As far as setting a healthier routine, don’t have set routine! College is busy, and you will always get curve balls thrown at you.

However, there are a couple of things I try to stick by: focus mainly on caloric intake, proteins, fats, carbs, fibrous sources, foods and veggies. But like I said before, hold yourself accountable for going to the gym--give yourself a set number of times you want to go per week, and get it done. Even if you don’t go the day you say you will, go another day, and don’t get caught up in setting unrealistic goals. Go to the gym, and make healthier choices.

Is there an optimal rep range for muscle growth?

Many believe that eight to 12 repetitions is the golden rep range for muscle growth. Some may recommend more, and others may recommend fewer. In order to settle this dispute, we need to delve into the science behind the training principles and training variables that play into muscle growth.

Resistance training, with the goal of muscle growth, is used to initiate a hypertrophic response. This response includes the growth of myofibrillar contractile proteins as well as noncontractile elements. This is ultimately achieved through a net increase in protein synthesis. Muscle protein synthesis and proteolysis (protein degradation) are both up-regulated and down-regulated through various pathways; implemented correctly, resistance training can readily manipulate these pathways. In order to achieve this effect, an overload stimulus must be elicited — meaning a stress must be placed on the muscle over time for the muscle to adapt.

There are three main factors that initiate this adaptation response: mechanical tension, metabolic stress and muscle damage. Mechanical tension refers to the amount of load, and therefore tension, placed on a muscle. It may perturb the structural integrity of the muscle cell and initiate a somatic response that ultimately leads to a net increase in muscle protein synthesis. This is likely the most important of the three, but high levels of mechanical tension alone without sufficient volume may only produce neural adaptations, as opposed to both neural and muscular adaptations. When a muscle is subjected to a certain volume of work, metabolic byproducts accumulate as a result of anaerobic glycolysis — this phenomenon is referred to as metabolic stress. This stress induces an a hormonal response, cell swelling and an increase in growth factors, which ultimately causes a net increase in muscle protein synthesis. Muscle damage

- Anthony Pumilla generates an inflammatory response, ultimately stimulating various growth factors to promote hypertrophy; the proposed mechanism posits that nerve endings innervating damaged fibers stimulate satellite cells to induce growth. Muscle damage is the least important of the three main factors and too much of it will hinder the growth process.

In order to stress these three factors and facilitate growth, certain training variables need to be employed. The main training variable is volume, which accounts for the amount of work done. It is defined as weight multiplied by total repetitions. Volume has a dose response relationship with hypertrophy, meaning that the amount of volume determines the amount of adaptation, or, in this case, muscle growth. If more volume means more adaptation, then we would want to maximize volume, to a certain extent. Too much volume will eventually lead to either stagnation or overtraining, so volume should be kept within the athlete’s acceptable range. This range is largely determined by individual characteristics, ranging from life variables (such as sleep, stress and nutrition) to genetics and training age.

Normally, the longer somebody has been training, the more volume can be utilized, as overload stimulus over time increases the total volume that can be handled at once.

Periodization (the organization of training variables over the long term) may also play a role, and can be used to maximize volume over time while avoiding stagnation and overtraining.

The other most important variable to consider when analyzing repetition and load schemes is intensity. Intensity quantifies the load used and is defined as a percentage of one-rep-max (1RM). This means that a higher load is a higher intensity. Inherently, a higher intensity will necessitate a lower number of possible repetitions. Since the volume

formula contains both load and total repetitions, intensity has a significant effect on the volume possible to achieve.

If volume determines adaptation, then the load and repetition scheme should be chosen carefully in order to maximize this value — within reason. Lower loads tend to allow more volume per set completed, but too low a load may not be optimal for hypertrophy. Past research has indicated that loads below 65% 1RM (or around 15RM) are less effective at producing hypertrophic adaptation, as opposed to loads above this threshold. Although no consensus has been reached, recent research has shown that taking a set to muscular failure may be more important than this intensity threshold. This is partially explained by Henneman’s size principle, which states that motor units, or groups of muscle fibers, are recruited in a specific order under load. The spectrum of motor units is covered as force and fatigue requirements increase — starting with the smaller, slower-contracting fibers all the way up to the fastercontracting, larger fibers. Taking a set to muscular failure would require all motor units to be activated by the end of the bout, as fatigue facilitates the need for more motor units to be recruited in order to meet the force requirement. The question now is: What does this have to do with building muscle?

It turns out that fiber recruitment is highly correlated with muscle growth, meaning that if more muscle fibers are recruited, a higher growth stimulus is likely to occur — there is one problem, though. Taking very low loads to complete muscular failure in a normal gym setting is not very practical.

The ability to place stress on the muscle itself, unlike various other factors (such as cardiovascular conditioning, grip strength or even the mental ability to continue), will be reduced as the number of required repetitions increases.

What about loads above 65% 1RM? It seems as if any load

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within this range, except at the top end, produces similar results when volume is equated. A recent study looked into the differences between two different repetition schemes with equal volume values (weight multiplied by total repetitions).

Two groups, one using three repetition sets and the other using 10 repetition sets, completed the same exercises and volume over the same period of time. The two training programs produced about the same increase in muscle cross-

sectional area (a measure of hypertrophy), although there were some differences. The three-repetition group saw larger strength gains, but their training sessions took 70 minutes and they felt very fatigued by the end of the eight-week study. The 10-repetition group took 17 minutes per session and were not fatigued at all. In fact, they felt they could actually handle more volume. In order to equate volume, the 3-repetition group required seven sets per exercise, while the 10-repetition group required only three sets. Taking into account time efficiency and recovery ability, the 10-repetition protocol was likely more optimal for hypertrophy over the long run.

All things considered, as long as volume is equated, there may not actually be an optimal range of repetitions for maximum muscle growth. However, a moderate repetition range seems to be the best mix of a load high enough to allow sufficient motor unit activation but also low enough to provide sufficient volume to stimulate hypertrophy. Strength expectedly plays a role in hypertrophy as it allows more weight to be used within this moderate range, ultimately allowing more room for overload stimulus and therefore growth. Just like low-repetition strength work, high-repetition strength work focused more on fatigue resistance has its benefits as well, allowing more repetitions and therefore volume to be completed within the moderate range. Taking this analysis into account, it seems reasonable to use periodization to concentrate most of training volume within the moderate (six to 12 repetition) range, while incorporating some volume done in the lower (three to five repetition) range and some volume done in the higher (12 to 15 repetition) range.

Stress! What to Do? W

elcome, students, to another crazy semester at the University of Miami! Though the semester seems to have just started, everyone has been at full gear for weeks. Some professors have already given their third midterm exams, and students are expected to hurriedly piece together their schedules for next semester; meanwhile, the longing for those comforting bed covers intensifies with each passing day. As the workload piles up from procrastination, students utter one word that is mutually felt among their tired peers: stress. Aside from the pounding headaches and the light sobs into heavy textbooks, what is stress? Dr. Barry Zwibelman, Ph.D., associate professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Miami and licensed clinical psychologist, sheds some light on stress and stress management from a psychological perspective.

The concept of stress caught the public eye when it was linked to human medical problems, such as heart attacks and other cardiac conditions, that arose with no physiological explanation. The resulting panic paved the way for a new type of health craze — one that focused on maintaining our mental well-being. This mysterious tether

- Michelle Xiong

between mind and body called for further scrutiny as well as development of methods for stress management. In his stress management class, Dr. Zwibelman emphasizes a conception of what stress ultimately is: the fight-or-flight response. As many students in introductory psychology courses learn, this reaction is a physiological arousal in response to a perceived attack or harm. A remnant of our primal nature, this response is responsible for split-second make-or-break decisions in moments of extreme duress.

In these trying moments, you may experience elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure, accelerated breathing and increased muscle tension — adjustments in bodily faculties made to optimize your capability to overcome the impending threat. What many are not aware of, though, is that the same reactions involved in this response to harm are also experienced as a result of day-to-day stresses.

Stress typically bears a negative connotation but, in fact, not all stress is bad. Dr. Zwibelman alluded to a famous quote in the field of stress management: “Without stress there would be no life.” This refers to the sheer ubiquity of what we perceive as stress. It is experienced in even the simplest, most mundane activities, such as asking or answering questions. The stress response is initiated when a specific purpose must be achieved or a certain

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goal reached. Dr. Zwibelman stated, “When you’re not performing and not accomplishing anything, your body is Next, try this drill again but use the diaphragm in a total state of rest. Good stress is one that gives energy instead. The diaphragm is the layer of muscle that to motivate and accomplish things.” Like a double-edged separates the thoracic cavity and the abdominal cavity. sword, the stress that motivates us can build up to the Follow the above-mentioned steps again, but this time, all-too-familiar bad stress, in which performance begins to lower the diaphragm to inhale in order to completely fill decline. Imagine yourself confidently taking an exam that the lungs with air. A sign that this is done correctly is if the you know you studied endlessly for, but your mind blanks stomach protrudes when lowering the diaphragm to fill the on a question, causing you to rack your brain anxiously lungs. Interestingly, when humans are born, they naturally for the answer. The stress that had previously served to breathe through their diaphragms, meaning babies naturally motivate you soon turns to mid-exam anxiety as your heart practice diaphragmatic breathing. As time progresses and beats faster, inflating the stress people suffer from increased level to the point where it stress, they start to take interferes with your test-taking shallower and more rapid performance. breaths, learning to breathe by How should you pushing out their chests rather respond to and manage than their diaphragm. These this stress? The first step changes physiologically relate is to become aware of the to those from the fight-orsources from which the stress flight response, and the basic originated. Some techniques methods of stress management to help do so include help to counteract these bad meditation, yoga, cognitive habits in activities as simple as methods and deep breathing. breathing.

Unfortunately, these sources After mastering may be problems that you diaphragmatic breathing, you cannot solve — issues out might consider combining of your own hands. With the exercise with cognitive regard to situations like these, methods such as meditation, Dr. Zwibelman mentions which requires focus on a serenity prayer adopted a single thought, usually

by Alcoholics Anonymous: soothing imagery. Sometimes “Please give me the strength other activities, such as to change the things I can exercising, listening to music change. Give me the patience or praying, are preferred; to accept those things that I these methods are perfectly cannot change and the wisdom acceptable. One point Dr. to know the difference.” As Dr. Zwibelman is a full-time professor Zwibelman emphasizes about this implies, various techniques currently teaching Introduction to the benefits of diaphragmatic exist for differing sources of Psychology, Abnormal Psychology and breathing, meditation and stress. Some focus on solving Stress Management. Before lecturing similar techniques is that the problems at hand while full-time, his experience in the field of they can be exercised daily others focus on remaining psychology has mostly been clinical, to cope with life’s normal calm through controlling stress having served many years on the stresses rather than waiting response if the problems, by counseling center staff at the University until good stress builds up and nature, cannot be changed. of Miami. After his transition from clinical transitions to bad. He suggests One of the first practice to education, he has taught a minimum of 10 minutes to techniques that Dr. Zwibelman stress management for eight years. a maximum of 20 minutes a teaches is diaphragmatic day for practicing such coping breathing. While reading this mechanisms. article, follow along to experience a method that seems Keep in mind that stress is constant and sometimes simplistic but, with careful practice, is a skill that can the signs of stress’s toll are not always apparent. The body manage stress relatively well. This exercise can be done responds to the stress both physically and mentally. With anywhere and in any position — while lying down, sitting techniques like diaphragmatic breathing, we have figured or standing up. First, take a deep breath, filling your lungs out viable and convenient ways to control this physical completely. Then hold that breath for a couple seconds response, so try to practice these exercises daily. If you and slowly exhale. At the end of the exhale, pause for a keep all of this information in mind and exercise good few seconds and take another deep breath. Concentrate on stress management, you might just feel more energized and going through these motions slowly to consciously productive. direct the body to relax. Pretty simple, no?

Master Plan: Pre-Med - Kriti Sood

Dr. Michael Gaines Professor and Assistant Provost of Undergraduate Research and Community Outreach

What is the importance of planning out your college year?

It is important to plan out your college year because you want to have some goal and some timetable of doing the kinds of activities that will enhance your portfolio. Without a plan, you don’t have a schedule of when you want to accomplish several things ... the problem is that you are so busy with different activities and so you really want to be organized.

What would you believe to be a competitive GPA to get into a good medical school? What would you consider to be a competitive MCAT score?

A competitive GPA in the sciences is about a 3.70. The MCAT exam is changing, so a competitive score in the new MCAT would be about a 500, while in the old MCAT a 32 is a competitive score.

Do you believe that greater priority should be placed on research or shadowing for medical programs, or are both equally important?

Shadowing is more important than research if you are applying for medical school because you go around and you follow a physician in order to get inside perspective.

Pamela Salemi Biology Advisor If you were to share one piece of advice with freshmen, what would it be?

To be organized, know how to manage your time and know how to study. Additional perks: to be well-rounded and wellspoken.

What are some of the resources you would recommend utilizing?

I recommend what complements my first three thoughts. A student needs to stay organized and understand how to study for each subject.

Information needs to be digested via class time, assigned readings, reviewing notes, labs, etc […] It is important to study from these various sources and understand that there can be a steep learning curve on how to correctly study as compared to one’s high-school study habits.

Students are encouraged to take advantage of the Academic Resource Center (ARC) or other departmentally-based resource centers.

How important are extracurriculars in a student’s life?

Extracurricular activities are absolutely important. You need to involve yourself in organizations but not to the point that it interferes with your academics.

Roger Williams M.S. Ed Microbiology & Immunology Academic Advisor Is there any piece of advice you would share with incoming students?

I would advise freshmen not to settle on a major from the beginning, because they still have a great deal to learn. I suggest exploring different subjects and fields, finding the one that suits them best.

Financially, it is wise to have a decision made by the beginning of sophomore year as any later may extend their time to graduate. Their parents are looking out for their best interests however, it is important that the student recognizes their abilities and limitations early on. They should keep their eyes and mind open to new things as they will find their own niche in the end, whether it is medical school or something completely different. Whatever you choose should make you happy.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were our age?

Peanuts are not nuts, I realize now that I should not have taken my undergraduate years for granted. My focus wasn’t there from the very beginning due to a number of reasons. I was fortunate to work in my field before and after graduation, surrounded by a group of supportive individuals. If I could speak with my teenage self I would say, be realistic, do your best and take advantage of any opportunities awarded to you.

Dr. Barbara Colonna Senior Lecturer, Organic Chemistry What characteristics do you see in successful students?

Successful students have many traits that help them in their accomplishments.

First of all, they enjoy what they are doing. The most unifying characteristic is that successful students embrace what they are doing. Once you enjoy what you are studying, it doesn’t become a burden, but rather an interest. This interest allows you to feel natural in excelling. So overall passion, love for the subject, attention to detail, and curiosity are characteristics that help students excel in their academics and in life.

What do you like most and least about being a professor?

I love to teach and be in class and interact with the students by answering their questions.

The reason I entered my field was because I was fascinated by it and didn’t know too much about it. I was and am completely captivated. So, I really like it when I have the ability to inspire students and get their feedback. I don’t like exams or having to put a grade that sometimes does not fully reflect the student’s efforts. It is a very simplistic way of figuring out what students know and don’t know and it works better for some students than for others.

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The Beginning of UMiami Scientifica Magazine 1. April 14, 2014 Victoria A. Pinilla Escobar creates UMiami Scientifica Magazine as she sees that the university needs a publication that will spark student’s curiosity, passion, and innovation.

2. April 15, 2014 Roger Williams supports the idea and becomes Editorial Advisor.

3. April 24, 2014 Victoria sends applications to students for staff positions.

4. May 2, 2014 Victoria selects staff members from the applicant pool to be part of the magazine.

5. August 23, 2014 The first 22 staff members that supported Scientifica meet for the first time.

Editorial Board is also created.

1 6. October 9,2014 Scientifica is approved for distribution by the UM Board of Publications 7. October 31, 2014 Scientifica Magazine is officially registered as a student organization under the Council of Student Organizations (COSO).

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8. November 19, 2014 Scientifica publishes its first issue.

9. December 2, 2014 Scientifica Magazine’s first issue is archived in the University Archives.

10. February 19, 2015 - Scientifica Magazine’s referendum through Student Government to increase the Student Activity Fee by $1 per full-time undergraduate student per semester is passed by a majority of the votes.

Roger on the Edge Roger, We would like to thank you for your continued support of the magazine and all of its staff. You’ve truly gone above and beyond to ensure the success of the magazine. We are lucky to have you as our Editorial Advisor, and look forward to the next fun thing you do to help us out.

Maybe this time it will include a golf cart!

Funding for the basic sciences has dropped significantly over a number of years. Government agencies like NIH, NSF… have made it difficult to get funding for most researchers due to financial cutbacks. Individuals that may or may not be knowledgeable in the grant they are reviewing are responsible for deciding those that get and those that don’t. What is wrong with crowd source funding to provide $$$$ for research? What are the pros and cons of this kind of funding? And is this ethical?

What are your thoughts on this?

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